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TWENTIETH CENTURY TEXT-BOOKS 



A HISTORY OF 
THE AMERICAN NATION 



BY 

ANDREW c. Mclaughlin 

PROFESSOR, AND HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT, OF HISTORY 
IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 




NEW EDITION 
THOROUGHLY REVISED AND LARGELY REWRITTEN 



D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
NEW YORK CHICAGO 






Copyright, 1899, 1905, 1908, 1909, 1911, 1913, 1916 
By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 




AUG 31 1916 






PREFACE 



American history has been making at a very rapid rate in 
these early years of the twentieth century; events of importance 
have followed one another in quick succession; new views of 
social duty and new ideas concerning obligations in industrial 
relationships have come so quickly that it has been hard to 
keep pace with new conditions or to appreciate the principles 
of action. All of these developments have in some degree 
changed our attitude toward the past. The writer of history, 
if true to his faith and loyal to his science, will not allow his 
statements of fact and of social change to be colored or distorted 
by his hopes for the future or by his judgments of the present; 
it is his duty to tell his story — entertainingly if he can — but as 
calmly and truthfully as the facts and his grasp of them permit. 

And yet we are always getting new points of view, new angles 
of vision, new turning points in the onward road, from which 
to look back upon the past; and things which loomed large at 
one time or to one generation of history students are reduced 
to smaller dimensions; and, on the other hand, things that once 
seemed small and comparatively unimportant appear large and 
full of meaning when judged by later experience. As the present 
is the product of infinite factors working in the past, we must 
ever get, as we go on and as life changes about us, new glimpses 
of forces that have made us what we are. 

The main events of American history cannot be changed, and 
must be learned, as far as we can now see, by successive genera- 
tions of boys and girls; the planting of the English colonies on 
the edge of the new continent and their development in political 
capacity and self -sufficiency; the estrangement from the mother 
country; the war and independence; the formation of the federal 



vi HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

Union; the expansion of the republic till it reached across the 
continent and beyond; the ideals of democratic government 
influenced by the experiences of the frontier; the growth of 
slavery and of anti-slavery sentiment; the gradual separation 
of the sections until the South sought to sever the bonds of 
union; the declaration of the Civil War that there must be one 
nation, and that, as a house divided against itself will surely 
fall and a nation cannot exist half slave and half free, the nation 
should be wholly free; the gradual reconstruction, economic and 
political, after the struggle between the sections. But there are 
other things, too, and these to-day mean more to us than they 
did only a few years ago; the development of party machinery, 
the tasks of democratic government in a changing social order, 
the using — and sometimes the mis-using — of the natural re- 
sources of the country, the growth of cities and the multiplying 
of factories; — in fact, the new conditions which are the product 
of the manufacturing regime and which have brought their 
demands for legislation and political action. Every passing 
year seems to add significance to the important general phases 
of industrial growth during the last fifty years, while the rela- 
tions of government to industry and to tasks of social better- 
ment are more and more the subject for discussion. This does 
not mean that history should be written from the point of view 
of industrial growth alone; on the contrary, perhaps never 
before was there such need for understanding political history 
and knowing the development or change of political principles, 
and for this reason, because political society, the state, the 
government, and law are now closely involved in every problem 
of industrial control, in every plan for general social regenera- 
tion. 

With some such ideas as this in mind, the present edition of 
this book has been prepared. The text of previous editions has 
all been carefully reexamined; portions of it have been re- 
arranged; the colonial period has been reduced to allow more 
space for the treatment of more recent history; considerable 



PREFACE vii 

portions have been rewritten. Some alterations have been made 
here and there or an explanation has been added where the ex- 
perience of teachers, who have used the book in the class room, 
indicated that alteration might make a statement more lucid 
or telling. Marked addition has been made to the story of the 
last forty years and an attempt has been made to bring out 
with distinctness the main characteristics of the period. 

Acknowledgment is due to the following for some of the illus- 
trations that have been used: the Houghton Mifflin Company, 
Ginn and Company, the Magazine of American History, the 
New York Historical Society, the New York Public Library, 
the Boston Public Library, the Grolier Club, and Mr. R. T. 
Haines Halsey. 

The book in its older form has been used for some years in 
many class rooms, and, if I may judge from words of com- 
mendation that have come to me and for which I am grateful, 
it has been helpful to teachers in their task of making real to 
pupils the great and essential facts of American history. It 
is offered in this new form with considerable confidence that it 
will prove no less useful. It is, I may venture to hope, if not 
entirely free from error, in most respects abreast of modern 
scholarship in the field; to hope less would be to disparage the 
attention and thought given to the revision. 

Andrew C. McLaughlin. 
April lo, 1913. 




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«V 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. — Discovery and Exploration i 

II. — The Southern Colonies — 1607-1700 19 

III. — The New England Colonies — 1607-1700. ... 48 

IV. — The Middle Colonies — 1614-1700 73 

V. — The Colonies in the Eighteenth Century ... 87 

VI. — France and England — 1608-1763 97 

VII. — ^The Social, Industrial, and Political Conditions of 

THE Colonies in 1760 112 

VIII. — Causes of the Revolution 133 

IX. — The Revolution — 1775-1783 iS4 

X. — The Confederation and the Constitution — 1781-1789. 180 
XL — Organization of the Government — The Federalist 

Party in Control — 1 789-1801 198 

XII. — Jeffersonian Democracy — Internal Development. . 223 
XIII. — The Struggle for Rights Upon the Sea. . . . 236 
XIV. — National Development; Industrial Problems . . 256 
XV. — Party Reorganization; Personal and Sectional Dis- 
pute 276 

XVI. — The Jacksonian Era; The Tasks of a New Self-con- 
scious Democracy 290 

XVII. — Slavery and the Texas Question 315 

XVIII. — War with Mexico; Shall Slave-territory be In- 
creased? 332 

XIX. — The Principle of Popular Sovereignty; the Forma- 
tion of the Republican Party 350 

XX. — The Coming of the Crisis 365 

XXI. — Secession and Civil War — 1861-1865 385 

XXII. — Political and Social Reconstruction — 1865-1877. . 433 
XXIII. — The New Nation — Party Strife — 1877-1885 . . 459 

ix 



X HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XXIV. — The Beginnings of Modern Industrial America — 1859- 

1903 474 

XXV. — Twelve Years of Party Discussion; The Tariff and 

Silver 493 

XXVI. — The War with Spain — Imperialism and the White 

Man's Burden — 1897-1909 514 

XXVII. — ^The Tasks of the Early Twentieth Century — 1900- 

1913 527 

XXVIII. — Democratic Ascendancy — The Tarlff — Financial Re- 
form — Foreign Complications, 1913-1916 . . . 552 

XXIX. — Conclusion 565 

Appendix i 

Index xxix 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

George Washington Frontispiece 

Building a Ship of the Fifteenth Century 5 

The Earhest Engraved Likeness of Christopher Columbus ... 7 
Facsimile of the Sentence in Which America was First Named . .12 
An English Ship of Private Ownership, About the Time of Sir John 

Hawkins 22 

The Spanish Armada and the English Fleet in the Channel ... 23 

Captain John Smith 29 

From Captain John Smith's Generall Historie 31 

An Indian Palisaded Village 34 

Indian Treaty Belt of Wampum 37 

First Page of the Bradford Manuscript S3 

A Pilgrim Meeting House and Fort 54 

Governor Carver's Chair and a Colonial Spinning Wheel • - - SS 

John Winthrop 60 

Chair and Cradle Used in the Eafly Colony 62 

Peter Stuyvesant's House in New Amsterdam 76 

William Penn 82 

Title Page of the Frame of Government 85 

View of Christ Church, Boston 96 

Defeat of the Iroquois 99 

Part of a Leaden Plate 102 

Samuel Adams 113 

A House Slave of Washington's Day 114 

Advertisement for a Runaway Slave 115 

William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Va 118 

A Printing Press of Franklin's Day 119 

Facsimile of Part of a Page of Poor Richard's Almanac . • . .122 

A Contemporary Advertisement 123 

New York City in 1732, from Brooklyn Heights 124 

Benjamin Franklin 125 

The Birthplace of Benjamin Franklin in Boston 126 

Patrick Henry 133 

Facsimile of a Newspaper Broadside on the Day Before the Stamp Act 

Went into Effect 140 

The Repeal, or the Funeral Procession of Miss Americ-Stamp . . 142 

Handbill Announcing the Repeal of the Stamp Act 144 

Portion of a Handbill Recalling the Boston Massacre .... 146 

The Wise Men of Gotham and Their Goose 149 

Appeal for Provisions, June 18, 1775 157 

Jefferson's Draft of the Declaration of Independence .... 160 

The Surrender of Burgoyne 166 

Fraunces' Tavern, New York City 176 

A Page of Washington's Accounts 179 

Eighth Federal Pillar Reared 193 

xi 



xii HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

PAGb 

Ninth Pillar Erected 194 

John Jay 199 

View of the Old City Hall, Wall Street, in the Year 1789 . . . 201 

Alexander Hamilton 204 

Triumph Government: Perish All Its Enemies 210 

John Adams 215 

Reception of Washington at Trenton, N. J 222 

Thomas Jefferson 223 

John Marshall 226 

Signing the Louisiana Purchase Treaty 230 

Early Flatboat from St. Louis to New Orleans 235 

James Madison 240 

Henry Clay 244 

The Constitution 248 

The House Where the Treaty of Ghent was Discussed .... 254 

James Monroe 257 

A Lock on the Erie Canai 263 

The Conestoga Wagon 264 

A River Steamboat on the Mississippi 265 

A Frontier Log Cabin 267 

An Early Cotton Gin 270 

John Quincy Adams ?8o 

Advertisement of the First Passenger Train in Massachusetts, May, 

1834 284 

Railway Travel in 183 1 285 

Andrew Jackson 290 

Reproduction of the First Telegraphic Message Sent by the Morse 

System 294 

John C. Calhoun 299 

Daniel Webster 300 

New Edition of Macbeth, 1837. Bank-Oh's Ghost 304 

William Lloyd Garrison 316 

Cartoon Used as Cover to an Emancipation Song Sung in 1844 by the 

Hutchinsons 319 

Zachary Taylor 342 

William H. Seward 34^ 

Charles Sumner 3(>3 

James Buchanan 3^5 

John Brown's Fort • • • • 375 

Newspaper Announcement of the Secession of South Carolina . -379 

Jefferson Davis 3^3 

Abraham Lincoln 385 

Union Gunboats on the Cumberland 397 

Robert E. Lee 402 

Lincoln's Draft of the Emancipation Proclamation . . . . . 407 

Newspaper Announcement of the Result of the Battle of Gettysburg . 410 

U. S. Grant 4iS 

The Confederate Ram Tennessee 418 

W. T. Sherman 421 

The Grave of the Union, or Major Jack Downing's Dream . . . 423 

The True Issue, or "That's What's the Matter" 425 

Grant's Dispatch Announcing the Surrender of Lee 428 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xiii 

PAGE 

The Great " Compromise Cartoon " 430 

Rutherford B. Hayes 459 

James A. Garfield 469 

Driving the Last Spike 479 

Breaking Raw Prairie 482 

A Cartoon of the Tweed Ring 484 

A Modern Grain Elevator 487 

The Railway Strike of 1877 490 

A Modern Steam Locomotive 491 

Grover Cleveland 493 

Benjamin Harrison 498 

William McKinley 514 

Lowering the American Flag on the Palace in Havana, to Make Way 

for the Star of the Cuban Republic 521 

Theodore Roosevelt 523 

The Culebra Cut on the Panama Canal 525 

William H. Taft 531 

A Modern Skyscraper Partially Completed 535 

A Modern Harvesting Machine 540 

Woodrow Wilson 550 



LIST OF MAPS AND TABLES 

PAGE 

Political Map of the United States (colored) .... facing viii 

Old Trade Routes to the East 2 

Sketch of the Ptolemy Map 4 

The Four Voyages of Columbus 8 

A Sketch of a Portion of the Behaim Globe 9 

Early Explorations in the New World n 

The Route of Magellan 13 

Western Half of Lenox Globe 14 

The Mercator Map of 1541 15 

A Map of 1 53 1, Sketched in Outline 16 

Relief Map of the United States 18 

Territory Granted b}- the Charter of 1606 26 

Territory Granted by the Charter of 1609 30 

Maryland 40 

Grant of the Carolinas 45 

Part of John Smith's Map of New England 49 

Grant to Massachusetts Bay 58 

Rhode Island and Providence Plantations 66 

Territory Granted to Mason and Gorges 68 

Extent of the Settlement in New England in 1660 69 

European Possessions, 1650 (colored) 75 

East Jersey and West Jersey 79 

Colonial Governments Distinguished (colored) 93 

The Johet Map, 1673-74 100 

La Hontan's Map of Canada 103 

European Claims and Possessions, 1755 (colored) . . . facing 104 

The French and Indian War, Western Campaign 105 

The French and Indian War, Northern and Eastern Campaigns . . 107 

The French and Indian War, Campaigns of 1756 and 1757 . . . 108 

Central North America, 1 763-1 783 (colored) .... facing no 

Boston and Its Vicinity in 1776 156 

The Early Campaigns of the Revolution 161 

New York and Vicinity in 1776 162 

Clark's Campaign in the West 172 

Field of the Campaigns in the South 173 

The United States at the End of the Revolutionary War (colored) . . 181 

The Northwest Territory 185 

Distribution of the Population in 1790 195 

The Election of 1796 214 

Central North America After the Purchase of Louisiana (colored) facing 232 

Routes of Lewis and Clark and Pike 233 

Field of the Campaigns in the West, War of 181 2 246 

Field of the Campaigns in the North and East, War of 181 2 . . 250 
The Region About Washington and Baltimore . . ' . . . .252 

The War in the South 253 

XV 



xvi HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

PAGE 

The Cumberland Road 261 

The Erie Canal 262 

Free and Slave Areas After 1820 272 

The Election of 1824 278 

Distribution of Population in 1830 296 

Texas 324 

The Oregon Country 327 

Field of the War with Mexico 334 

Acquisition of Territory in the West, 1803-1853 337 

Chart Showing Increase of Immigration by Decades . . . .350 

The Western Territories in 1854 357 

The Election of 1856 364 

The Growth of Railroads 371 

Charleston Harbor 387 

The United States in 1861 (colored) -facing 38S 

The War in the East 391 

Field of the Western Campaigns of the Civil War 393 

The Peninsula Campaign 401 

Battle of Gettysburg 409 

Historical Sketch of the War 417 

Field of the Last Campaigns of the Civil War and the Line of Sherman's 

March 420 

Distribution of Population in 1870 446 

The Election of 1876 456 

Trails to the West and Routes of Pacific Railroads 478 

The Election of 1896 511 

Field of the Campaign in Cuba 517 

The Philippine Islands 518. 

The Panama Canal Zone 524 

The Distribution of the Population in 1910 537 

The Election of 191 2 549 

Territorial Growth of the United States (colored) . . . facing 566 

The Center of Population 1 790-1910 566 

Diagram Illustrating Progress in Industry and Commerce . . . 568 
Teachers in Common Schools and Appropriation for Schools. . . 570 
The World, Showing the United States and Its Dependencies . .574 
Relative Areas of the States of the Union and European States, A ppendix iii 
Summary of Popular and Electoral Votes for President and Vice- 
President of the United States Appendix iv-ix 

Summary of the States and Territories .... Appendix x, xi 
Cities of Over 100,000 Inhabitants in 1910 . . o Appendix xi. 



HISTORY OF 
ITHE AMERICAN NATION 



CHAPTER I 
DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION 

Five hundred years ago the men of Europe did not know 
of the land we call America; they knew nothing of the great 
continent across the western ocean. Some men, 
The end of the ^j^g j^^j.^ learned, believed that the western At- 

Middle Ages. 

lantic touched the shores of Asia; but there 
was little interest in what lay to the west, in or beyond the 
"sea of darkness". And yet the Middle Ages were drawing 
to a close; Europe was already stirred with new life and en- 
terprise; the spirit of the Renaissance ^— the new birth — 
the re-awakening of interest in art and letters and science, 
was already moving men to take a wider and deeper interest 
in the things about them. Daring men were already engaged 
in tasks of exploration, for the age of the new learning was 
also the age "of discovery". The times were marked by an 

^ "The term Renaissance is frequently applied at present not only to 
the new birth of art and letters, but to all the characteristics, taken to- 
gether, of the period of transition from the Middle Ages to modern life. 
The transformation in the structure and policy of states, the passion for 
discovery, the dawn of a more scientific method of observing man and 
Nature, the movement toward more freedom of intellect and of conscience, 
are part and parcel of one comprehensive change — a change which even 
now has not reached its goal." (Fisher, Outlines of Universal History, 
p. 387.) 

1 



2 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

outburst of commercial enterprise and by a zeal for a wider 
trade and exploration. About 1450 the art of printing was 
invented, and this gave a channel for communicating new 
thoughts and ideas and announcing new discoveries and 
inventions. 

From time immemorial the nations of western Europe had 
lain with their backs to the Atlantic; the great course of trade 
ran from the towns of Germany and France to 
Italy, and from Italy on to the Orient, Genoa 
and Venice had become great seats of commerce 
and grown rich in their traffic with the far East. Europe used 



Trade with the 
East. 




/ O O 



Old Trade Routes to the East 



more and more of the silks and spices of the Orient, and these 
commodities became necessities to the people. There were 
three routes of travel: one by way of the Black Sea and the 
Caspian; another through Syria and the Persian Gulf; the 
third by the way of tne Red Sea. But toward the end of the 
Middle Ages the Ottoman Turks began to press forward in 
Asia Minor and to block the routes of travel, checking or mak- 
ing dangerous the way to the East. In 1453 Constantinople 
fell into their hands, and commerce in that direction was ended. 



DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION 3 

Turkish corsairs frequented the waters of the eastern Mediter- 
ranean, and Europe saw herself in danger of being cut 
off entirely from the longed-for wealth of "India and 
Cathay". 1 

Although this commerce with the Orient was not small 
and had lasted for centuries, yet in the fifteenth century the 

people of Europe knew little of India or China, 
East ^ °^ ^ since the traffic was in general carried on through 

middlemen. Accounts of the far East had been 
written by travelers, and some of them seem to have had in- 
fluence in arousing interest in those regions. Chief among these 
narratives was the work of Marco Polo, an Italian traveler, 
who spent many years in China, and, returning to Europe, 
recounted strange stories of the wealth and glories of the Great 
Khan. He described not only China, but India, and made 
mention of Japan ^ and Java. This famous book was one of 
the greatest single contributions ever made to geographical' 
knowledge. Its descriptions have been found to be, on the 
whole, remarkably correct. In the next century after Marco 

Polo wrote his book appeared the "Voyage and 

Travels of Sir John Mandeville". Such a man 
as the famous Sir John probably never existed in the flesh, 
any more than did Robinson Crusoe. The stories of which 
he was the hero were taken bodily from other writers; but 
the doughty knight, real or fictitious, was a perfect prince 
among story-tellers and was a very actual person to the men 
of that day, who read with eagerness the fascinating tales of 
the marvelous East. He told of pillars of gold and precious 
stones half a foot in length, of golden birds that clapped their 
wings by magic, of golden vines laden with costly jewels, 

^ Cathay was the name by which China was known in Europe. India 
was a very indefinite term. 

2 Japan had the name Chipangu or Cipango in Marco Polo's book. As 
we shall see, Columbus thought that he had reached it, and at one 
time thought that Hayti was that famous land, where the lord of the island 
had "a great palace which is entirely roofed with fine gold. . . . Moreover, 
all the pavement of the palace, and the floors of its chambers, are entirely 
of gold in plates like slabs of stone, a good two fingers thick". 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



of the fountain of youth whose waters, if one drank them 
thrice, would make one ever young. ^ 




Sketch of the Ptolemy Map^ 

While men were interested, as they had not been for cen- 
turies before, in eastern traffic, and were annoyed and troubled 
by the appearance of the robber Turk, great steps 
Beginning of were being taken by seamen of western Eu- 

Atlantic voyages; t+i, j^-U 4. 4. 

results. rope, in the end, the great western ocean was 

opened up; men looked boldly out upon the 

rolling waters and thought of lands and of riches awaiting the 

^ "I, John Mandeville", says the old impostor, "saw this well and drank 
thereof thrice, and all my fellows, and evermore since that time I feel that 
I am better and haler". Marco Polo's Travels were written in 1299 in the 
prison at Genoa. Read Marco Polo's Account of Japan and Java, in Old 
South Leaflets, No. 32. 

It is noteworthy that Mandeville declares that "men may well perceive 
that the land and sea are of round shape and form", and that he tells of a 
man who wandered quite around the earth and returned to his own home 
again. 

^ This is only a simplified sketch of the Ptolemy map. Ptolemy was a 
geographer who lived in the old Roman Empire, about 150 a. d.; his maps 
were studied by the geographers at the end of the Middle Ages. It shows 
how little was known of the earth, and how wrong was much that the geog- 
raphers thought they knew. Strangely enough, the merchants and sea- 
going men of the time had far better maps of the whole Mediterranean 
region, maps which were made for real service; but they seem to have 
received little attention from scholars. 



DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION 



5 



merchant and the mariner. The early voyages had Httle imme- 
diate concern with attempts to reach Asia; but as the years 
went by a new route to the East was found, and, moreover, 
in the western ocean, one sea-captain, as we know, bolder 
and steadier than the rest, stumbled upon a continent. 

From the earliest dawn of history, the Mediterranean had 
been the great sea, ''the center of the earth". The ocean was 
The Portuguese the "sea of darkness"; men feared to go out upon 
mariners of the its fearful Waters. But in the fifteenth century the 
fifteenth mariners began to pluck up courage and to make 

venturesome voyages along the coast of Africa. 
Under the stimulating advice and encouragement of Prince 
Henry of Portugal, who won the title of Henry the Navigator, 
Portuguese seamen went out year after year, on voyages of 




Building a Ship of the Fifteenth Century 

discovery toward the south, and by their hardy bravery gained 
skill in seamanship and helped to dispel the terrors of the 
ocean.^ It is a great story, this tale of the new, bold seaman- 

1 Men thought in the early days, they had long thought, that just as it 
grew colder and colder as men went farther north, so it grew hotter and 
hotter as they went south, till none could live. The capes on the western 
coast of Africa tell in themselves the tale of the effort to get southward — ■ 
Cape Non, that is Cape "No"; Cape Bojador, the "bulging" cape; Cape 
Blanco, the "white" cape; Cape Verde, the "green" cape. On the green 



6 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

ship, and it helped to bring important results. After Henry's 
death (1460) the work went on, and before the end of the 
century (1497) Vasco da Gama, rounding the Cape of Good 
Hope, made his way northward to India, and returned with a 
c?rgo of the coveted spices of the far East. The voyages and dis- 
coveries of the Portuguese navigators brought new knowledge 
of strange coasts and helped to drive away from men's minds 
the great fear of the Sea of Darkness, which, had been supposed 
to contain all kinds of dreadful monsters and threaten all sorts 
of fearful dangers. Europe began to face about and to look 
out upon the great western ocean, whose coast had for so many 
centuries been the limit of the civilized world. ^ It was a great 
event in human history, when men began to use the Atlantic 
Ocean and make of it a highway of trade. 

It has long been thought that Christopher Columbus, know- 
ing that the world was round, made up his mind to go westward 
_ to reach the east. Such a purpose, it now seems, 

was probably not his controlling aim, if it in- 
fluenced Mm at all. He probably did know that the earth was 
round, for such was the belief that had been handed down by 
scholars even from ancient times; but we are now led to be- 
lieve that his main hope was to find new lands, not as the 
Portuguese had done, along or near the coast of Africa, but far 
out in the Atlantic, rumors of which had long been heard, and 
tales of which had been told, that awakened the ambition of 
a man fit for doing big things.^ In 1492, standing boldly forth 

cape were waving palms, not desolation under the torrid sun. "Under the 
shadow of the palms of Cape Verde", says one writer, "the superstition of 
the Middle Ages lies buried". 

^ It sometimes seems as if the thing to be stressed is not the discovery of 
the new land, but the "new sea"; the Atlantic was no longer a barrier, a 
limit, but a highway; as the years went on, the nations of western Europe, 
and the little sea-girt island of England, instead of being far away from 
routes of trade stood in the vantage point. But Italy with her old-time 
culture and practice furnished many of the early leaders for the west. 
Columbus, sailing under the flag of Spain, was an Italian, so was Vespucius. 
so was Cabot, so was Verrazano, who carried the French banner along the 
coast of the American continent. 

^ This interpretation of the desires of Columbus is not the one commonly 
given. For centuries men have thought that Columbus started out with 



DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION 



from the port of Palos, in command of three small ships, he 
sailed westward, pressed patiently on and in October touched 
upon what we now know to be an outlying island of a new 
world. Before returning 
to Europe he visited other 
islands. He had not dis- 
covered a land with mar- 
ble palaces and golden 
wonders, as described by 
Marco Polo and Mande- 
ville, but he thought he 
had; and on reaching 
Spain was received with 
triumphal honors as one 
who had outdone the rest 
and found a new way to 
eastern splendors.^ 

The bold explorer 
made three other voyages, 
always hop- 
ing to find 
the wealth 
and glories of Cathay, 

On his second voyage he established a colony in Hayti.^ 
On his third (1498) he discovered the mainland of 
South America, but he supposed the land to be part of 



Other 

discoverieSc 




The Earliest Engraved Likeness of 
Christopher Columbus 



the intention of sailing to China and India. Perhaps he did. Certainly 
after his first discoveries he maintained that he had found the East, that he 
had seen Japan and had found the mainland. On his third voyage, in a 
state of exaltation, he thought he had discovered the earthly paradise. 
But scholars now seriously doubt that his aim at first was to discover Asia; 
they have pored over all the available material and, for the time being at 
least, are inclined to cast aside the old story and to look upon the voyage 
of Columbus as a successor to the voyages in the Atlantic, which for nearly 
a century had brought honor to the Portuguese. 

^ Columbus's own account of his discovery will be found in his letter to 
Santangel. It is published in American History Leaflets, No. i. 

^ Columbus left some men on the island on his first voyage, but found 
only ruins of their houses and fort when he returned. 



8 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



Asia, or in the near neighborhood of the wished-for places. 

Shortly after returning from his fourth expedition he died 
(1506) in Spain, neglected, poor, and broken- 
hearted ; for he found little favor with the people 

when it was seen that he had not brought them the gold and 

jewels and precious fabrics of the Orient, but had "discovered 



Death. 




L«n2itu.le OU West 00 from 40 Greenwich 3U 



The Four Voyages of Columbus 



the lands of deceit and disappointment — a place of sepulchers 
and wretchedness to Spanish hidalgos". 

It is important to remember that the desire of Europe 
was not to discover a new continent, but to reach Asia. Men 

believed that the new discoveries lay along the 
each^Asia coast of China, and the idea only gradually took 

hold of them that the lands out in the western 
ocean were parts of a new continent. South America, which 
became known in rough outline before the northern continent 
was well known, was supposed to be a new island or a pro- 
jection from Asia; and, after the coast line quite well to the 
north was put down on maps and charts, the hope of many 



DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION 



9 



voyagers was to get around these troublesome barriers or 
through them, and to find their way to the coveted riches of 
India. Even after European settlements were made in the new 
land there were many patient explorations of bays and rivers 
in hopes of finding a thoroughfare. Slowly, through the proc- 



i<^ 



<mk. 





>A/ / If ^ 


k 
A 


^ \ Jv^ 


^Y^ ^ 
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-1 \,v. / «»«S. 

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T^-A 


1 ^S — ir-Pc^ 


^=*N 


__-_ — — 1 








Vb 


:.:•, '"^y- 1 




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— '/'~~—~~-L 


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j-ul 


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^i^^l 



A Sketch of a Portion of the Behaim Globe, 1492, with an Outline 
OF the American Continents Superimposed Upon It 



ess of decades, the Western World was uncovered and opened 
up to be a part and parcel of the known geography of the earth. 
Before Columbus had completed his four voyages other 
important discoveries had been made. In 1497, "seeing that 
the most serene kings of Portugal arrd Spain had occupied 
unknown islands", John Cabot, an Italian, sailing from Bris- 
t''\l, England, found land in the western ocean, and returned 



10 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

to tell of his discoveries, saying he had discovered, seven hun^ 
dred leagues away, the mainland of the country of the "Great 
Cham", the monarch of China. He seems to have touched 
upon the coast of Labrador or Cape Breton. An entry in the 
privy purse of shrewd Henry VII notes that £io were given 
"hym that founde the new isle", — not a magnificent gift in 
light of the fact that upon this voyage of the Cabots England 
later based her claim to the continent of North America. The 
next year another voyage was made, but little or nothing is 
known with certainty of the extent or the results. ^ 

There is some reason for believing that the mainland of 
South America was first visited by an expedition that set sail 
from Cadiz, May lo, 1497. Americus Vespucius,^ a Florentine 
merchant and traveler, speaks of this voyage in which he claims 
to have taken part, and says that "at the end of twenty-seven 
days" they came "upon a coast which we thought to be that of 
a continent". Perhaps he never made such a voyage; scholars 
doubt it; but, at all events, he appears to have been on an ex- 
pedition in 1 501, and he certainly knew how to tell a wonder- 
ful tale of what he saw. His stories of far-off lands were eagerly 
read; his description of the great body of land in the south 
and west, which did not appear to be known to geographers as 



^ The ambassador from Milan, Italy, wrote home about this adventur- 
ous fellow-countryman, who sailed from England and for England. "This 
Messer Zoanne [Mr. John] has", he said, "the description of the world on 
a chart, and also on a solid sphere which he has constructed, and on which 
he shows where he has been . . . and they say that there the land is excellent 
and temperate, suggesting that Brasil [Brazil wood] and silk grow there. 
They afi&rm that the sea is full of fish, which are not only taken with a net, 
but also with a basket, a stone being fastened to it, in order to keep it in the 
water". Mr. John probably drew the long bow when talking about climate 
and silk, and indulged in a pleasant fish story or two; but, if it was not even 
then possible to catch the simple cod in a market basket, there were fish in 
plenty, and not many years passed before the banks of Newfoundland and 
Cape Breton were regularly visited by hardy fishermen from Europe, who 
took little interest in affairs of the "Great Cham". The discovery of this 
fishing region was in itself an important fact in history. 

^ This is the Latin form of the name. In Italian it is Americo or Amer- 
igo Vespucci. 






J^ 






t 









^ 
s 












«5 






-S^i^-^i^ ^ 






< 



W 

o 

< 

(In 

H 
t/] 






i.^ 



12 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

part of Asia, was vivid and interesting. His story, written in a pri- 
vate letter,^ was printed and widely circulated. In 1507 a young 
German professor, living at St. Die, in the Vosges Mountains, 
published a little volume on geography, and with it some letters 
of Vespucius, and suggested that, inasmuch as a fourth part of 
the earth had been discovered by Americus, it be called Amer- 
ica.^ This name came into general use only slowly, being 

Nuc 5^0 &: h J partes funt latius luftratn^/Sc alia 
quartapars per Americii Vefputiij(vt in fequenri 
bus audietur )inuenta eft/qua noii video cur quis 
iure vetet ab Americo inuentore fagacis ingenr) vi 
AmcriV to Amerigen quafi Americi terra / fiue Americam 
ca dicenda:cu &: Europa Sc Afia a mulieribus fua for 

tita fuitTiomina.Eius fitu 8c gentis mores ex bis bi 
nis Americi nauigationibus quae fequuntliqaidc 
intelligi datur. 

Facsimile of the Sentence in which America Was First Named, from 

THE COSMOGRAPHI.E InTRODUCTIO, I507 

applied first to the unknown lands, "the New World" on the 
south, and then given to both continents.^ 

In 1 5 19 Ferdinand Magellan started upon a great and 
eventful voyage. He discovered the straits that bear his name 
and, passing boldly through, crossed the broad Pacific, sailing 

^ In his letter Vespucius spoke in wonder of what he saw on the Brazilian 
coast, and said, "Novum mundtim appellarc licet" — one might call it a new 
world. This letter, when published, bore the title Noviis Mmidus. 

2 In another place is the same suggestion: "But now these parts have 
been more extensively explored, and . . . another fourth part has been dis- 
covered. . . .Wherefore I do not see what is rightly to hinder us from call- 
ing it after its discoverer, Americus, a man of sagacious mind, Amerige — 
i. e., the land of Americus, or America, since both Europe and Asia have 
got their names from women". 

' For Vespucius, see Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America, 
vol. ii, chap, ii; Fiske, Discovery of America, vol. ii, pp. 25-175, especially 
p. 97. Fiske is a great believer in poor old Vespucius, whom most scholars 
have soundly berated. For a careful treatment, see Bourne, Spain in Amer- 
ica, chap. vii. 



DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION 



13 



day after day and week after week over the wide ocean. Ma- 
gellan himself was killed in the Philippine Islands; but one of 
his vessels, with a remnant of her crew, sailed to 
Spain, completing the first circumnavigation of 
the globe. Judged by its results, this voyage was 
not so important as many others, but it was one of the 
greatest feats of bold navigation in history. It shows how 



Magellan, 
1519-21. 




The Route of Magellan 



much had been done in this wonderful era in the course of 
1 few years; for, fifty years before, the Portuguese seamen 
lad sailed hardly more than halfway down the western coast 
Df Africa. 

While for nearly a century after the discovery of America 
)ther nations did little to get possession of dominions in the 

New World, Spain entered eagerly into the task. 
'xpiTration Settlements were made in the West Indies, and 

bold adventurers made long journeys into the 
nterior of the continents looking for the fabulous riches of 
Dathay. Ponce de Leon, seeking the fountain of perpetual 
routh, explored Florida, "the land of Easter".^ Balboa, from 
peak in Darien, looked out upon the waters of the great 

Pacific. Somewhat later Pineda entered the mouth 

of the Mississippi and called it the Rio de Santo 
Sspiritu, the River of the Holy Spirit. In 1539-42 De Soto 



'513. 



^ Ponce de Leon saw Florida on Easter Day. 
^ascua Florida, the flowery passover. 



In Spanish this day is 



14 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 




Western Half of Lenox Globe * 



made his famous march through the southern part of what h 
now the United States. About the same time Coronado, start- 
ing in search of the fabulous "seven cities of 
^^^°' Cibola", wandered over the dreary plains and 

through the mountain defiles of the southwest. These ex- 

^ This map follows a sketch given in Winsor, Narrative and Critical His- 
tory of America, vol. ii, p. 170 (by permission of the publishers, Houghton, 
Mifflin & Co.). It is the part of a globe made about 1510 or 1511, nowin 
the Public Library, New York. It shows the Mimdiis Novus of Vespucius 
as an island southeast of Zipangri (Japan). Other interesting maps will be 
found in Winsor, vol. ii. 



DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION 



15 



Spanish 
domimon. 



Character of 
Spanish rule 



plorations accomplished little/ but in Central and South 
America the Spanish soldiers won a great and wealthy empire; 
Hernando Cortes 
conquered Mex- 
ico (1519-21); 
the Pizarros conquered Peru 
(1531-34). In 1565 a settle- 
ment was made at St. Au- 
gustine, the first European 
settlement within the future 
limits of the United States. 

It will thus be seen that 
Spain occupied the islands of 
the West Indies 
and the semi-civ- 
ilized countries of 
the two continents. The In- 
dians of the islands were timid, 
and incapable of resisting the 
cruel Spanish soldiers; the 
people of Mexico and Peru 
were not able to unite effect- 
ively against the invaders; 
and so the power of Spain 
was established with little 

difficulty, and she became possessed of a great subject empire 
in the New World, from which came gold and silver in abun- 

1 Little by little the general character of the new continents was discov- 
ered, "uncovered"; but men long thought they were wandering over some 
strange projection of Asia, and even when they reahzed that new conti- 
nents were before them, they often looked upon the new region as a vexing 
obstacle in the way of reaching China. To many traders and explorers 
from western Europe the task long remained to find a way through or 
around the inconvenient continents. The Indians, the mountains, the 
great plains of the west, the heavy forests of the eastern Mississippi 
region, the long rolhng rivers, were seen by one or another of the Spanish 
explorers and by those who came after, and gradually the general char- 
acter of the western world was known. 

2 This map shows the word America applied to both the northern and 
southern continents. It was long supposed to be the very first, but quite 

3 




The Mercator Map of 1541^ 



16 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 




FINiEUS-1531 



A Map of 1531, Sketched in Outline 

dance. ^ I'o govern such an empire her character and her con- 
dition fitted her. We now look back upon the history of 
Spanish colonization and see the mistakes in her system and 
her spirit; her colonies were too often harshly governed; they 
were outlying dependencies, furnishing the ruling land with 
treasure and with trade; but withal Spain transferred to 
America European law and religion, and the mark of her hand 
will ever be seen in the states of Central and South America.^ 

recently another map (also by Mercator) has been discovered that was 
made three years earlier. Mercator was the wisest geographer of the time, 
and showed a truly wonderful power of interpreting the reports of travel- 
ers and explorers and of divining the truth. The map as here given follows 
a sketch made by Mr. Winsor himself, and reproduced in his Narrative 
and Critical History of America, vol. ii, p. 177 (by permission of the pub- 
lishers, Houghton, MifBin & Co.). The original map is on gores. For an 
example of this method of making maps, see Winsor, Narrative and Critical 
History of America, vol. ii, p. 120. 

1 The development of Spain in the course of a few decades is a striking 
fact in history. In the middle of the fifteenth century Spain was not even 



DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION 17 

After the discovery of America by Columbus, the Pope, 
Alexander VI, issued two bulls, dividing the heathen lands 

of the world between Portugal and Spain. These 
The buu of gave to Spain all she might discover west of a line 
I4P3. ' drawn one hundred leagues west of the Azores and 

the Cape Verde Islands. The next year the two 
powers entered into an agreement, in accordance with which 
the dividing line should be three hundred and seventy leagues 
west of the Cape Verde Islands. Upon this agreement, duly 
ratified by the Pope, Spain based her claim to the New World. 

References 

Thwaites, The Colonies, Chapters I and II; Fisher, The Colonial 
Era, pp. 1-20; FiSKE, The Discovery of America, Volume I, especially 
Chapters I, II, III, V, VIII, IX, and X; Channing, History of the 
United States, Volume I, Chapters I-III. Longer accounts : Markham, 
Christopher Columbus; Adams, Christopher Columbus. See also Far- 
rand, Basis of American History, pp. 3-88; Cheyney, European 
Background of American History, pp. 3-41 ; Bourne, Spain in America, 

an united kingdom; before the middle of the sixteenth century Spanish 
power reached towering heights. In America, in Africa, in the far East, in 
different parts of Europe, her hand was raised with authority. The Span- 
ish kings were charged with zeal for universal empire; little England and 
littler Holland stood in the way, and had the strength in time to break 
down her power upon the sea. 



CHAPTER 11 
THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700 

While Spain in the hundred years after Columbus was build- 
ing her colonial empire, the other nations of Europe accom- 
plished nothing in the way of actual settlement of the New 
World. France, it is true, took some interest and made some 
explorations. Hardly was the New World known to the Old, 
when the hardy fishermen of Brittany began to visit the fisheries 
of Newfoundland. Verrazano, in 1524, sailed along the North 
American coast from North Carolina to Maine. Ten years 
later Jacques Cartier explored the lower part of the St. Law- 
rence, and the next year visited the present site of Montreal. A 
few years after this (1542-43) an attempt was made to plant 
a colony in the new-found region, but without success. The 
Huguenots sought to settle in Brazil, but the effort ended in 
miserable failure. A colony formed in Florida was destroyed by 
the Spaniards, and its people were murdered in the cold- 
blooded fashion of which the Spanish soldier of the day was 
master.^ 

Thus Spain, unsuccessful herself in obtaining a hold on 
the Atlantic coast north of the Gulf of Mexico, save in the 
weak outpost at St. Augustine, which hardly de- 
Effect of French served the name of colony, did succeed in prevent- 
rivairy. i^g the French from settling in the south, while 

the cold winters of the north brought disaster to 
French colonists on the St. Lawrence. As a consequence, the 
middle Atlantic coast remained to the end of the century free 

1 Graphic accounts of these early French enterprises will be found in 
Parkman, Pioneers of France in the New World, pp. 9-183. Shorter ac- 
counts will be found in Doyle, The English in America, vol. i (The 
Southern Colonies); Fiske, The Discovery of America, vol. ii, pp. 512-522; 
Thwaites, France in America. 

19 



20 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

from settlements, and England was given the chance to oc- 
cupy it with her colonies. 

Not till the beginning of the next century, when France 
was inwardly at peace, did the French succeed in making a per- 
manent settlement in America. In 1605 Port 
Permanent Royal, in Acadia, was founded, and three years 
colonies. later Champlain founded Quebec. How the French 

power developed in Canada, and how the French 
endeavored to extend their sway over the whole interior of the 
continent, will be told in a later chapter. It is suflScient to say 
here that England and France came to vie with each other for 
dominion in North America ; and while in the course of a hun- 
dred and fifty years the English colonies along the middle 
Atlantic coast were growing strong and vigorous, the French, 
as an ever watchful, zealous enemy, sought to check the prog- 
ress of their rivals. 

It is highly important that the main features of the geo- 
graphical situation should be kept in mind. The Spanish 
, ^ were at the south; the French, after i6os, were 

Contests of the , ,. , , , , , .,„ . 

nations for the established at the north; the middle portion, 
possession of from Maine to Florida, was unsettled at the 
™^" " beginning of the seventeenth century. Into this 

middle portion came the people of England, and the Dutch 
and Swedes also. In the course of a few years, Holland and 
Sweden being too weak to retain their hold upon it, it fell into 
the hands of the English. Then began a contest between France 
and England, a contest for wider dominion, and in this contest 
England was successful. Thus by the end of what we call the 
colonial period the whole of North America^ was possessed 
by two nations, England and Spain. Let us now turn to the 
founding and upbuilding of the English colonies. 

VIRGINIA 

During the early decades of the sixteenth century England 
prospered, and, when Elizabeth came to the throne in 1558, 

^ Russia, it is true, had already done something in Alaska. 



THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700 21 

was prepared to enter upon a new career, to reach out for 
new traflSc, to grow in riches, to develop in every way. But 

there stood Spain, holding the New World and 
Spain" *° drawing away its treasure, looking askance 

at the expansion of English trade, jealously 
watching every move. The two nations were now bitterly 
hostile, and each passing year added to the feeling. The 
hostility was partly religious, for Englishmen felt that 
Spain stood for the power of the Roman Catholic Church, 
while they were now largely Protestants; it was partly com- 
mercial, for English merchants fretted against Spanish pre- 
sumption and her monopoly in the New World; it was partly 
political or patriotic, for men feared and disliked the over- 
powering might of Spain, whose hand and sword were always 
in sight, and they saw that, if England was to prosper and 
build up her trade, she must not cower before Spain, she must 
not let Spain rule the sea. Probably every man of ordinary in- 
sight "within the four seas" saw that Spain's power was a 
menace to English freedom; but the thing was most keenly 
seen by the great sea-captains of the day — great captains who 
were also great statesmen; scorning the threats of Philip 
against any who should visit the seas of the West Indies, they 
lay in wait for galleons freighted with the treasures of Mex- 
ico and Peru and robbed them ruthlessly; they despised the 
vaunted power of Spain on the sea, and stood ready to show 
the world that the Spanish king was but a king ^ "of figs and 
oranges". The very names of these daring and incomparable 
seamen were dreaded in the settlements of the New World.- 

Chief among the seamen was Francis Drake. He was the 
first Englishman to carry the flag into the Pacific. Sailing 



^ "And if the late queen", said Sir Walter Raleigh at a later day, "would 
have believed her men of war as she did her scribes, we had in her time 
beaten that great empire in pieces and made their kings, kings of figs and 
oranges". 

* An interesting account is to be found in Green, History of the Eng- 
lish People, chap. vii. 



22 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



through the Straits of Magellan, he loaded his bark with gold 
and silver and precious jewels from Spanish ships, taking from 
one alone the sum of three million dollars.^ Pass- 
ing to the north, he reached the coast of Cali- 
fornia or southern Oregon and took formal pos- 
session of the region, naming it New Albion. He then crossed 
the Pacific and completed the second navigation of the globe 



Sir Francis 
Drake. 




An English Ship of Private Ownership, About the Time of Sir John 

Hawkins* 

(1577-80). The expeditions of men^ like Drake were at 
least half piratical, but they were the necessary forerunners 
of English colonization, for they gave courage to English 



^ Fletcher, Drake's chaplain, who wrote an account of the voyage, speaks 
of taking thirteen chests of silver reals, eighty pounds weight of gold^ 
twenty-six tons of uncoined silver, two very fair gilt silver drinking bowls, 
"and the like trifles". 

^ Famous among these men was John Hawkins, a valiant seaman, 
knighted by Queen Elizabeth for his success in the slave trade. He who 
made himself famous in this horrible traffic seems not to have realized its 
horror or its wickedness. For he was a pious, religious spirit, and carried 
slaves or fought the Spanish with as clear a conscience as if engaged in holy 
errand. His sailing orders to his ships close with the words: "Serve God 
daily; love one another; preserve your victuals; beware of fire; and keep 
good company!" 



THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700 



23 



seamen and helped to break down all fear of the power of 
Spain. ^ 

Of like temper with Drake and the "sea kings" were Sir 
Humphrey Gilbert and Sir Walter Raleigh, fervid and de- 
termined souls, members of that noble company of English- 
men who gathered around Elizabeth and helped to make 




The Spanish Armada and the English Fleet in the Channel 
From an old tapestry in the House of Lords 

England strong. These men were bent on founding colonies 
and they tried their best, only to meet with discouragement 
and failure; the attempts are now interesting only because 
they were the beginning of serious efforts to extend English 
power by actual colonization, and because they show us the 
gathering spirit of England.^ 

1 Few things in history are more important than the establishment of 
England's sea power. We may not admire or sympathize with the ways 
and purposes of the "sea-kings", the fearless seamen of the sixteenth cen- 
tury, but we must fall victim to the charm of their astounding courage and 
see that by them was laid the foundation for English empire. "Drake", 
says Professor Seeley, "is one of the great men of that age; his name was 
bruited about Europe and pronounced with admiration by the Spaniards 
themselves. In our own history few have done so much. The British 
trade, the British empire, the British navy — of all these colossal growths, 
the root is in him". 

2 Gilbert and Raleigh believed, as did Drake, that the place to whip 
Spain was on the sea, and they believed that England should have colonies 



24 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

A number of the men who were actively interested with 
Raleigh were subscribers to the company which made a per- 
Coionjzation by Hianent Settlement at Jamestown, the planting 
the middle of which is soon to be told. And yet there is a 
*^'*®^' marked difference between the efforts of the six- 

teenth and those of the seventeenth century. With the age of 
Elizabeth there seemed to pass away the flavor of romance and 
adventure; the settlements under prosaic James I were the 
offspring of the economic needs of England. "We pass . . . into 
the sober atmosphere of commercial and political records, 
amid which we faintly spell out the first germs of the consti- 
tutional life of British America". The Englishman who suc- 
ceeded in colonizing America was not the gay courtier or the 
daring buccaneer or the bold freebooter or the gallant soldier 
of the reign of Elizabeth, but the steady representative of 
the industrious, plodding men of the middle classes, whose 
wants and thoughts henceforth were the directive forces of 
English history.^ The first settlements of the seventeenth 
century contained some of the elements of romantic 
England; but only when these were cast aside did the colo- 
nies prosper. 

Other motives than a desire for wealth or a longing to 
curb the power of Spain seem to have had their influence with 

in America partly for trade, partly as outposts against Spanish power. 
Gilbert tried to make settlements in Newfoundland (1579-83) but failed. 
Raleigh tried at the South and tried again, but to no purpose. When the 
century closed, the long stretches of American coast held no English set- 
tlement, the long coast called Virginia in honor of the queen whom these 
daring spirits served so well. 

In 1587 over a hundred men, women, and children were left on the 
coast of North Carolina, and when some three years later assistance was 
sent to them they were not to be found. This was Raleigh's "lost colony". 

1 Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of America, vol. iii, has an 
interesting chapter on Hawkins and Drake, also one on Sir Walter Raleigh. 
For further facts, see Fisher, The Colonial Era, p. 23 fol.; Thwaites, The 
Colonies, p. 38 fol.; Bancroft, History, vol. i, chap, v, p. 60; Doyle, The 
English in America (The Southern Colonies), p. 57 fol. 

For a picture of the England of Drake and Raleigh, of Gilbert and Sir 
Philip Sydney, read Charles Kingsley's Westward Ho! or Scott's Kenil- 
worth. 



THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700 25 

those who undertook at the beginning of the seventeenth 
century to found a permanent settlement in America. The 
industrial condition of England naturally turned men's thoughts 
to plans of colonization. The people were rest- 
Motives for jggg ^^^ uneasy; soldiers who had fought for 

colonization. •' ' . , ^ 

Elizabeth found their occupation gone and 
wished for further excitement; many men were out of 
work, for the conversion of plow land into sheep farms de- 
prived laborers of employment. There was a complaint that 
England was overcrowded — a strange complaint, one might 
think, inasmuch as the population of Great Britain has in- 
creased tenfold since that day. But in those days, before the 
invention of modern machinery, men could not easily find 
employment save as tillers of the soil. The country there- 
fore was overcrowded with those who had no work; lawless- 
ness prevailed and crimes were frequent.^ Under these cir- 
cumstances men turned their thoughts to America as a fit 
place to which to move the unemployed. Partly, then, as 
a business enterprise, partly in consideration of England's 
industrial condition, partly from motives of patriotism 
in order that England, as well as her hated rival, Spain, 
might have possessions across the sea, colonization was 
undertaken. 

For the prosecution of this enterprise, a number of men 
sought and received a charter from King James. The charter 

was complex and intricate, providing for two 
The London companies of like character. One was composed 

and Plymouth ^ , i , , . 

Companies. oi London merchants, and had authority to es- 
tablish a settlement between the thirty-fourth 
and forty-first degrees of latitude; in other words, somewhere 
between Cape Fear and the mouth of the Hudson. The other, 
the Plymouth Company, was made up of "sundry knights, 

1 The Spanish minister in London wrote to his king that the chief reason 
for the English effort to colonize Virginia was that a colony "would give 
an outlet to so many idle and wretched people as they have in Eng- 
land". See Hart, American History told by Contemporaries, vol. i, pp 
154. tSS- 



26 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



gentlemen, merchants, and other adventurers of Bristol and 
Exeter, and of our town of Plimouth", and it could found a 
colony between the thirty-eighth and the forty-fifth degrees, 




or between the southern point of Maryland and the Bay 
of Fundy. Thus it will be seen that the grant to one of the - . 
companies over-lapped the other by three degrees, but it was ' 



THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700 27 

provided that one was not to make a settlement within a 
hundred miles of the other. ^ 

It was also provided by the charter that each of these 
companies should have a council, resident in America; and 
there was to be one general superior council in 
govlmed^ ^^"^^ England. The affairs of the company were in 
the hands of the council, but it must govern "ac- 
cording to such laws, ordinances, and instructions as shall be 
in that behalf given and signed with our hand or sign manual" 
— that is to say, according to the orders of the king.' The 
colonists and their children were to have "all liberties, fran- 
chises, and immunities" of native-born subjects of the king. 

A company of colonists sailed for America in December, 
1606.^ Among them were all sorts and conditions of men — 
white-handed gentlemen, hoping to find imme- 
diate riches; broken gallants and ruined trades- 
men; and a few "carpenters" and "laborers". The gentle- 
men made up more than half the company.^ It was a motley 
company, eager for adventure, and hoping to gather with 
ease the precious stones and gold and silver with which the 
country was strewn.* They were ill fatted to build homes in 
a wilderness, to fell the forest, to plant corn, to toil and struggle 
in patience — "more fit to spoil a commonwealth than either 
begin one or but help to maintain one". ^ 



1 It should not be supposed that this charter was given to the colonists; 
it gave to certain men the right to found a colony in America and gave 
certain rights to trade, etc., but the company was largely in the hands of 
a council in England appointed by the king. 

2 The whole story of the settlement is vividly told in Cooke's Virginia, 
Part I, and in Eggleston, Beginners of a Nation, pp. 1-72. 

^ "They were going to a wilderness in which, as yet, not a house was 
standing, and there were forty-eight gentlemen to four carpenters". — Ban- 
croft, History, vol. i, p. 88. 

^"For rubies and diamonds, they go forth on Holydays and gather 
them by the seashore, to hang on their children's coats and stick in their 
caps". These words are from Eastward Ho! a popular play in England 
at this time. 

* Captain John Smith's The Generall Historic of Virjginia. 



28 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

Early in the spring of 1607 the expedition entered Chesa- 
peake Bay, and in May decided to build a town on a low penin- 
sula jutting out into one of the rivers that flows 
1607^^*°^°' through the fertile and attractive country south 
of the great bay. In honor of their monarch they 
named the river the James and their town Jamestown. 

The history of the lonesome body of men thus settled at 
the edge of the great wilderness is an old, old story, which 
will always hold its interest, but for us the de- 
sorrow'^^ *° tails are not important : they quarreled and 
wrangled; they sought for gold or a passage to 
the "south sea"; they longed for the meats and ale of merry 
England; and they starved. "Burning fevers destroyed them", 
says Percy, one of the company; "some departed suddenly, 
but for the most part they died of mere famine". One big 
man rose up among them, John Smith, ^ by name, — a vehe- 
ment, boastful, resourceful person, who helped in some degree 
to save the colony. But at the end of two or three years, 
though supplies and men came from England, the settlement 
was in a frightful condition. 

In 1609 a change of importance was made. A great corpo- 
ration was formed to take upon itself this colonial enterprise. 
The limits of the settlement as provided for by 
a corp(fraTion* " ^^^ charter of 1606 Were cast aside and to this 
corporation was given a vast estate stretching 
westward to the south sea. In 1612 a second charter was is- 
sued not materially altering the one of three years before, but 
more completely giving to the corporation the power of choos- 

-^-^^He was perhaps the last professional knight errant that the world 
saw — a free lance who could not hear of a fight going on anywhere in the 
world without hastening to take a hand in it". See Tyler, History of Amer- 
ican Literature, vol. i, p. 18. Tyler's description of Smith and his writings 
is full of charm and interest. The portrait on the opposite page is from 
Smith's The Generall Historie of Virginia,' and is a part of the Map of New 
England. For a part of this map, see the chapter on New England. "You 
must obey this now for a law", said Smith in the darkest days, "that he 
who will not work shall not eat" — a wholesome motto, but he later com- 
plained that "there was now no thought, no discourse, no hope, and no 
work, but dig gold, wash gold, refine gold, load gold". 



30 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



ing its own officers and managing its affairs.^ This compan}/ 
of men was a large and vigorous body, including many men 




of means and distinction; they were determined to make a 
success of colonization, and they set energetically to work. 

^ By the charter of 1609, the Hne of the corporation's lands on the eastt 
was to run along the coast, two hundred miles on each side of Point Com- 
fort, and the grant included "all that Space and Circuit of Land lying from 1 
the Sea-Coast of the province aforesaid, up into the Land, throughout from 1 
Sea to Sea West and Northwest" and islands within one hundred miles of I'l 
the coast. 



THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700 



31 



By the old arrangement afifairs in the colony had been in the 
hands of a council, and its members wrangled and disputed 
while things went to ruin. The new company sent out a gov- 
ernor with supreme authority, and under the stern, hard rule 
of a masterful man the work went on; the colony lived — 
lived, it is true, a hard life and a dreary one; but it lived. ^ 

In the course of a few years, some five or six after the grant- 
ing of the charter, the little settlement came to have a lasting 
look. Tobacco began to be raised and shipped to 
England; the colonists finding that they could do 
something more than hunt for treasure or long for home, began 
to plant the valuable weed everywhere, till "the market place, 



Tobacco. 







From Captain John Smith's Generall Historie 

street, and other spare places" were filled with growing crops. 
The industrial history of Virginia was begun; and when men 



1 Read especially Eggleston, Beginners of a Nation, pp. 45-48. Dela- 
ware, who lived in England, was the nominal governor, but the colony was 
in Dale's hands. At this time the practice of bringing all products to a 
"common store" was abandoned in part; the old planters were given gar- 
den patches. The communal system had tempted men to be lazy, in hope 
of eating the bread that other men had earned. Men now worked in the 
prospect of enjoying the fruit of their toil. 

George Yeardley, a "mild and temperate" man, ruled for a time. He 
was followed by Argall, whom Cooke calls a "human hawk, peering about 
in search of some prey to pounce on". In 1619 Yeardley returned. 
4 



32 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

were given land of their own and the right to till it for them- 
selves, little plantations appeared here and there; the people 
began reaching out into the forbidding wilderness. The people 
of England wanted tobacco, and smoking was indulged in 
despite the outcry of worthy King Jarnes, who published his 
"Counterblast to Tobacco", and declared that it was the 
"greatest sin" that a man "could not walk the journey of a 
Jew's Sabbath without having a coal brought him from the 
nearest pot-house" to kindle his tobacco with. The colony 
on the basis of its new industry went on, and before 1620 
there were various little outlying settlements along the rivers 
in the neighborhood of Jamestown. A few negro slaves, the 
first coming in 1619, and a number of white servants who were 
bound to a term of service in the colony, furnished the labor 
for the plantation system which was beginning to spread its net 
over the land of Virginia.^ 

While the colony was slowly but steadily building up, the 
company in England decided upon a great change. There 
were differing elements in the company, and 
tith HbeT^" by this time (1618) its management was controlled 
ideas. by a number of enterprising, able men, deeply 

interested in colonization and deeply interested 
too in broad and liberal ideas of government and of human 
rights. Chief among them were Sir Edwin Sandys and the 
Earl of Southampton, belonging to that class of free- 
minded men who were growing restless under the high-handed 
rule of the first Stuart.^ From them came the purpose to 

^ In 1 6 19 there came to the land of Virginia, says John Rolfe," a Dutch 
manne-of-war, that sold us twenty negars". The negro element in Vir- 
ginia was for many years a small one. The white servitude will be explained 
later. In the early years of the colony men or boys were sometimes seized 
in England, and shipped to the colony and there sold into servitude for a 
term of years. Others by one arrangement or another were induced to go. 
How long this process of "spiriting" or kidnapping continued may be seen 
from reading Stevenson's Kidnapped the scene of which is laid near the 
middle of the eighteenth century. 

- Sandys was honored by the hatred of King James. When the king 
tried to interfere with the election by the company of their own ofl&cer, the 



THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700 33 

establish freer institutions in Virginia, to do away with the 
absolute power of the governor and give the colonists a share in 
their own government. 

In 1 6 19 Governor Yeardley appeared in Virginia with 
"instructions from the Company for the better establish- 
ing of a commonwealth".^ He proclaimed that 
Assembly in ''the crucll lawes, by which the ancient planters 
America, July, havc soc longe been governed", were now ab- 
'*■ rogated, and that they were to be governed "by 

those free lawes which his majesties subjectes lived under in 
Englande. . . . That the planters might have a hande in the 
governing of themselves, yt was granted that a generall as- 
semblie shoulde be held yearly once, whereat were to be present 
the governor and counsell with two Burgesses from each planta- 
tion freely to be elected by the inhabitantes thereof, this As- 
semblie to have power to make and ordaine whatsoever 
lawes and orders should by them be thought good and profit- 
able for our subsistence".^ In conformity with this notice, an 
assembly was held in the little church at Jamestown in this 
same year. With the wonderful English instinct for govern- 
ment and organization, the representatives of this little com- 
munity in the wilderness of Virginia entered upon the duties 



head of the company in England, and when the company objected, James 
cried, "Choose the Devil if you will but not Sir Edwin Sandys!" South- 
ampton, friend and patron of Shakespeare, is thought by some critics to be 
the "W. H. " whom the poet addresses in his beautiful sonnets. To him 
some of Shakespeare's poems are dedicated. "Should the plantation gaon 
increasing as under the government of that popular Lord Southampton", 
said the Spanish ambassador, "my master's West Indies and his Mexico 
will shortly be visited, bv sea and land, from those planters in Virginia". 

' The general situation and the meaning of this should be seen clearly. 
We should remember that the charter of 161 2 was granted to a corporation 
resident in England; this corporation sent out the governor, and from 
England the general affairs of the colony were managed. The company 
decided to give the people something to say, and granted them the right to 
hold the assembly. The beginning of representative government, the 
coming in of the principles of self-government, is a momentous fact in our 
history, even if the right was given by a few men in an Enghsh corporation 
to a few men in the wilds of Virginia. 

^ These words are from the "briefe declaration" written somewhat later 



34 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



and privileges of their office with a zest and an aptitude that 
augured ill for tyrannical rule and pointed to the development 
of a self-ruling democracy in the New World. ^ 

But now, though the Virginia people were given new rights, 
and the colony was seemingly firmly fixed, the affairs of the 

Company were far from rosy. An Indian uprising 
loses itsTharter (^622) threatened the very existence of the colony 

before the savages were beaten, and enemies of 
the Company in England pointed to "the great massacre" 
to show that the colony was ill-managed and the whole 




An Indian Palisaded Village 

thing a failure. The Company was torn by factions and 
London resounded with their "babbling" and debates. The 
meetings of the members were more like cock pits, it was 
said, than orderly business meetings, and King James grew 
daily more impatient with the liberal-minded men like Sandys, 
who liked him no better than he did them. The Virginia courts,^ 



1 Interesting accounts of this first Assembly will be found in Bancroft's 
History of the United States, vol. i, p. 111-119; Cooke's Virginia, chap. xi.x. 
Bancroft says: "From the moment of Yeardley's arrival dates the real life 
of Virginia". When at a later day the colonists feared that they would lose 
their new-found rights, the Virginia Assembly asked the king to send over 
commissioners to hang them rather than establish the old tyranny. 

2 The meeting of the members of a corporation was called a court. 



THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700 35 

whispered the Spanish minister to James, "are but a seminary 
to a seditious Parliament". The uneasy monarch made up his 
mind to put a stop to the whole turmoil and to wipe out the 
Company. An excuse was readily found, and the necessary legal 
steps were taken to revoke the charter. Virginia then became 
a royal colony (1624). 

The attack upon the Company was an act of petty tyranny, 
but in the long run it was better that the colony should be 
under the King than subject to the whim of a 
commercial company. Charles I, coming to the 
throne in i6;?5, had enough to do at home seeking to rule 
according to his own sweet will, and soon had more than he 
could do in trying to save his throne and his head. The people 
in America were therefore allowed, without much interfer- 
ence, to develop their own institutions and to become prac- 
ticed in the management of their own interests. 

Virginia was now a royal colony, directly under the crown; 

but the assembly, which had been established by the Company, 

was recognized and continued to exist. A gov- 

Royal Colony. ^ i i • i 

ernor was sent over to represent the king and 
with him acted a council made up of colonists appointed 
by the king, which had a share in the business of government. 
And thus the form of royal colony government came into 
existence; it gradually took shape in the first two decades 
or so after the dissolution of the company.^ 

To us the history of Virginia in the last three quarters of 
the seventeenth century is chiefly interesting because during 

^ The form of government is of interest to us because it became the form 
of most of the colonial governments and because the governments within the 
colonies were the forerunners of our state governments. The governor acted 
under instructions, a long list of directions, given him by the English govern- 
ment. He had the right to do many things and was the chief executive officer 
in the colony. The council acted with the governor as a court in important 
cases, and was a part of the legislature — of the assembly in Virginia — the 
forerunner of the Senate in our state government to-day. The Burgesses 
in Virginia sat with the Council as one chamber till about 1680, when they 
became a separate house. The Burgesses or representatives were elected 
by the people and with the Council made laws, especially clinging to the 
right of taxation and after a time of appropriating money. 



36 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

those years the industrial and social character of the colony 
was established; habits of work and of living were forming 
that lasted with no great change until long after America 
^^ , . was separated from England and Virginia had 

The plantation. ^ _,. ° . . °, 

become a state. We are interested above all 
in how Virginia became a commonwealth of planters, many of 
them with vast estates, which were tilled by white servants 
and, more and more as the years went on, by gangs of blacks, 
raising great quantities of tobacco to be shipped to Europe on 
the ocean-going vessels that found their way up the great 
arms of the sea or up along the rivers with which the common- 
wealth is threaded. Very early, as we have seen, plantations 
for tobacco raising were made, here and there in the neighbor- 
hood of Jamestown. As the population grew and as fear of 
the Indians began to disappear, the planters pushed on and 
out into the back country, clearing the land and raising to- 
bacco; and yearly the plantations became bigger as men of 
means came into the colony and took up the land. That was 
the work of the seventeenth century, the establishment of 
the big plantation system. 

Much has been said in history about the coming of the 

"Cavalier" to the wilds of Virginia, and probably we have a 

mistaken idea if we have supposed that Virginia 

V^^ . . was settled by men different in birth and different in 

Ijonunion. -' 

blood from those that formed the backbone of New 
England in early days. Certain it is, however, that in the mid- 
dle of the century there were some "distressed cavaliers" that 
fled in disgust from the England that was in the grasp of 
the "Roundheads". When Charles was beheaded, Virginia 
remained stoutly loyal to the house of Stuart and only with 
reluctance and under pressure acknowledged the rule of Parlia- 
ment.^ The loyalty of Virginia, the "Old Dominion" as it 

^ A review by the reader of the main facts of EngHsh history in the seven- 
teenth century is very desirable. Charles I came to the throne in 1625. 
There were troubles almost immediately. In 1642 the "Great Rebellion" 
began; Charles was beaten, and in 1649 was beheaded. The "Common- 
wealth " period, during most of which Oliver Cromwell was the real ruler of 



THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700 



37 



Bacon's 
rebellion, 



came to be called, may have had much effect in bringing 
men of means; but. whether that be true or not, it is plain 
that such men came; the big plantations grew in numbers and 
in size; the "aristocratic" planter was the leading figure in the 
life and government of the colony.^ 

The government of Virginia was not altogether fine and 
honest in the days of the seventeenth century, when the plant- 
er was getting a firm hold on colonial life and 
industry. There was a good deal of political cor- 
ruption in the days after the Restoration, and 
William Berkeley, the gov- 
ernor, was an imperious man, 
who was "peevish and brit- 
tle" and would rail at any 
common man who asked a 
favor, as if to be governor 
of Virginia meant license to 
call everybody hard names." 
The body of favorites that 
gathered around him were 
greedy and had no taste for 
considering the rights of the 

poorer planter or woodsman. The Indians on the frontier who 
were a source of trouble for years did not molest the planters 




Indian Treaty Belt of Wampum 



England, lasted till 1660, when Charles II came to the throne, the "Res- 
toration". 

1 The picture of Virginia as it grew to be is a very important one for us. 
Tobacco, tobacco, everywhere tobacco. The fertile soil, the broad rivers, 
the mild climate, all tempted men to raise tobacco; and men scattered, not 
in little groups or bunches of men as in New England, but up the rivers, 
and along the "branches" that would float a boat to carry tobacco, the 
individual planter made his way. He went on into the "back country", 
perhaps to make a little home for himself and family, often to make a great 
estate in course of time, where bands of laborers tended the tobacco plant. 

^ One man who had approached the Governor was asked how he was 
treated. "He was brittle and peevish", was the answer, "and I could get 
nothing fastened on him". He was tl^n asked if the Governor called him 
a dog or a rogue and he said, "No". "Then", said the questioner, "you 
took him in the best of humor". 



38 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

of the older region, and the governor refused to do anything to 
protect the backwoods settlements. Then came rebellion (1676). 
Nathaniel Bacon with a band of men whom their enemies called 
"the scmn of the country" whipped the Indians and threatened 
the hold of the "brittle" old governor on the colony. But 
the rebellion failed, Bacon died, and Berkeley took a gruesome 
vengeance, till Charles in England cried out, "That old fool 
has hanged more men in that naked country than I did here 
for the murder of my father!" 

The rebellion was, in part no doubt, a protest against Berke- 
ley's rule;- it was in part a protest against the extravagance 
and wastefulness of the Assembly, then made up of favorites 
of the governor and of the richer planters; but the failure of the 
uprising marks the fact that government and social order were 
now in the hands of the planter class, especially those of the 
old tide-water region. This does not mean that, in the decades 
to come, the power of the governor and crown increased and 
that there was no development of the principle and practice 
of self-government. On the contrary, the average planter was 
a vigorous sort of person, proud of his own privileges and well 
prepared to defend the rights and privileges of the colonists. 
There grew up in Virginia among these great landowners men 
of ability, valor and strength, with a keen sense of what political 
liberty meant; ^ and when the darker days of the eighteenth 
century came on, and when England threatened to tax and to 
rule as she had not done before, the planters were ready to do 
their part.^ 



^ There were open differences between the men of the old tide-water 
region and the up-country men, and as the Revolution came on the Amer- 
ican movement was in considerable degree led by the latter class. But on 
the whole, planter, woodsman and newer planter, all knew how to de- 
fend Virginia's liberties. Virginia life of the eighteenth century will always 
remain of interest and importance. It produced in a few years an unusual 
number of great men, — Washington, Marshall, Jefferson, Henry, Mason 
and others. 

- Of industrial and social conditions at the end of the seventeenth 
century no better statement can be made than in a report made by Govern- 
or Berkeley, and we may well leave Virginia with some of his words in our 



THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700 39 

References 

Short accounts: Thwaites, The Colonies, pp. 36-44, 64-78; 
FiSKERjThe Colonial Era, pp. 23-62; Lodge, Short History of the Eng- 
lish Colonies in America, pp. 1-25. Longer accounts: Bancroft, 
History, Volume I, pp. 60-152, 442-474; CooKZ, Virginia, pp. 1-33 1; 
HiLDRETH, History of the United States, Volume I, pp. 76-96, 99-135, 
335-353, 509-565; WiNSOR, Narrative and Critical History, Volume 
III, Chapters II, IV, V. For the beginnings of Virginia, read 
especially Eggleston, The Beginners of a Nation, pp. 1-98, a very 
charming and entertaining book; Fiske, Old Virginia and Her 
Neighbors, Volume I, especially Chapters II to IV; Tyixr, England 
in America. Full and interesting narrative in Channing, History of 
the United States, Volume I, Chapters V-VIII; Volume II, 
Chapter III. 



I MARYLAND — 1632-170O 

Among the most noticeable features of American life at 
the present day are the entire absence of connection between 

church and state and the complete toleration 
toier^Tion ^^ ^'^ forms of religious belief. Our national 

Constitution provides that Congress "shall make 
no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting 
the free exercise thereof". The State Constitutions contain 
similar provisions, and men now quite generally assert that in- 



minds: "Commodities of the growth of our country, we never had any but 
tobacco, which in this yet is considerable that it yields his Majesty a great 
revenue. . . . Now, for shipping, we have admirable masts and very good 
oaks; but for iron ore, I dare not say there is sufficient to keep one iron mill 
going for seven years. . . . We suppose . . . that there is in Virginia above 
forty thousand persons, men, women, and children, and of which there are 
two thousand blacl^ slaves, six thousand Christian servants, for a short time, 
the rest are born in the country or have come in to settle and seat, in better- 
ing their condition in a growing country. . . . English ships, near eighty 
come out of England and Ireland every year for tobacco; few New England 
ketches; but of our own we never yet had more than two at one time, and 
those not more than twenty tons burthen. . . . We have fforty-eight par- 
ishes, and our ministers are well paid, and by my consent should be better 
if they would pray oftener and preach less. But of all other commodities, so 
of this the worst are sent us. . . . But, I thank God, there are no free 
schools, nor printing, and I hope we shall not have these hundred years". 



40 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



tolerance is foolish and wrong. But this broad and tolerant 
spirit has been of slow growth. In the seventeenth century, 
when America was settled, the great mass of men did not belieAC 
in toleration. Even in England, which was in some respects, 
perhaps, more advanced than were most of the countries of 
continental Europe, there were severe laws providing for the 
punishment of those that did not accept the faith of the Es- 




K I A 

± ^- 

Phil I \i li lim)(^ 

k Willi 11 ^iki'-^'^'; 
y rat 1.110, Jy'- 









Maryland 

The outer dotted line shows the original boundary and the inner line shows 

the boundary agreed upon with Pennsylvania in 1767. The 

southern line of Pennsylvania is Mason and Dixon's line. 



tablished Church or did not conform to the prescribed modes 
of worship. Many of the settlers in America were fugitives 
from the persecutions of the Old World; and yet in many of the 
colonies throughout the whole colonial period a spirit of in- 
tolerance prevailed. This continent received in its early days 
men of many and diverse faiths; and in the free air of the New 
World, where free thinking and free acting were encouraged, 
people gradually came to respect their neighbor's sincere faith, 
even though it differed from their own. 



THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700 41 

In the light of these facts, we are interested in the early 
history of Maryland, where for some years Protestants and 

Roman Catholics lived together in peace, and 

where, for a time at least, the principles of toler- 
ance were carried into practice. The founders of the colony 
were George and Cecilius Calvert. The former, the first Lord 
Baltimore, was a man of distinction in England, in the time of 
James I. In those days there were strict laws against the 
Catholics,^ but Baltimore adopted the faith, resigned his of- 
fice, and turned his attention to founding a colony in America. 
We don't know just what his purposes were, probably not to 
found a colony which was purely Roman Catholic, but cer- 
tainly to found one to which members of his faith could go with 
hope to live in peace. He obtained a charter granting him land 
on either side of Chesapeake Bay; bui before the charter was 
actually issued he died and his plan for colonization passed to 
his son Cecilius. 

We have seen that Virginia in early days was in the hands 
of a corporation ( 1609-16 24); the Calvert charter on the other 

hand gave land and power to one man ; to him was 
^"lattoate given the right of government ; he was the lord and 

ruler of the people. The colony was called a palati- 
nate,^ and that meant that the lord of the province, owing allegi- 
ance to the king, and bearing the same relation to him as did any 
one of the great feudal lords that had acquired power and au- 
thority in the middle ages, had vast power as feudal overlord 
over the men that went to settle in the wilds of America. It is 
a strange and interesting fact, this attempting to use the old 
feudal system as a basis for American settlement, this attempt- 

1 In the reign of James, before 1618, twenty-four Catholics are said to 
have been punished with death. Baltimore, however, was not molested, 
but on the contrary was favored by the king. 

2 A palatinate is in itself a little kingdom, in which the lord palatine, 
though owing allegiance to the king, has regal power as fully as the king in 
his palace. There were several of them in England at one time, and the 
palatinate of Maryland was modeled after the palatinate of Durham. The 
palatinates of England, like those established by Charlemagne, were on 
the borders of the realm. 



42 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

ing to furbish up a dead or dying scheme and use it for plant- 
ing and peopling a wilderness on the borders of the empire. 
Though great power was given the proprietor by this charter, 
there was one essential thing in it, which served in a few years 
to make the new colony more than a feudal estate. He was the 
law-making power, but the laws were to be made with the ad- 
vice and consent of the freemen. If the freemen were assertive, 
self-reliant Englishmen, if they had the sense of freedom, which 
the air of the American woods produced, they would not long 
remain mere vassals of a lord who lived in England and made 
money out of their tobacco. 

Two vessels, the Ark and the Dove, bearing both Catholic 

and Protestant colonists, reached the Potomac in 1634. A 

settlement was made at St. Mary's and the colony 

Free government begun. The government was at first in the hands 

gradually estab- . . • ^ i i_ ^i 

lished. 01 a governor and council appointed by the proprie- 

tor. As laws could not be made without consent of 
the freemen of the colony, a meeting was held within a year. Such 
a gathering was unwieldy and inconvenient and so, two or 
three years later, some of the settlers sent proxies to vote for 
them, and soon after this a regular representative system was 
set up. Moreover, the people were not content with merely 
ratifying the laws sent over by Baltimore, and they demanded 
the right to make laws themselves. When this was granted, 
as it was, by the lord proprietor, the colonists had a big share 
in their own government; it did not take many years of Amer- 
ican life to rub off a good deal of the old-fashioned feudalism. 
Year by year, and decade by decade, the colonial assembly 
took new powers to itself;^ wresting one power after another 
from the hands of the proprietor or his governor. 



^ The government of Maryland as it developed in the seventeenth cen- 
tury was not unhke that of her southern neighbor. There were a governor, 
appointed by the proprietor, a council, also approved by the proprietor, 
which advised with the governor and had its share in legislation, and the 
body of elected representatives who with the council had the law-making 
power. But, of course, Maryland was under the proprietor, not immedi- 
ately under the King. 



THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700 43 

Though there was no law prescribing toleration and no pres- 
sure on the colony save the evident wish of the proprietor and 

his interests, Catholics and Protestants lived to- 
^he Deration gg^-j^gj. jj^ early years without serious disputes. 

In 1649 ^t seemed wise to provide for religious 
freedom by positive enactment, and in consequence the famous 
Toleration Act wasplaced upon the statute books. "And whereas 
the enforcing of the conscience in matters of religion hath fre- 
quently fallen out to be of dangerous consequence in those 
commonwealths where it hath been practiced, and for the more 
quiet and peaceable government of this province, and the bet- 
ter to preserve mutual love and amity among the inhabitants, 
no person within this province professing to believe in Jesus 
Christ shall be in any ways troubled, molested, or discounte- 
nanced, for his or her religion, or in the free exercise thereof". 
The council and assembly that passed this act were composed 
of Catholics and Protestants, and it was an event of no small 
importance in the history of mankind when adherents of these 
two faiths could thus amicably agree to live together and 
respect each other's beliefs, even if it were in a corner of the 
New World. 

For some years there was on the whole a spirit of tolerance 
and good fellowship. "Here", wrote a colonist in 1666, "the 

Roman Catholick and the Protestant Episcopal 
The English (whoni the world would perswade have proclaimed 

Church ^ . , , . , 1 X 

established. open wars irrevocably against each other) con- 
trarywise concur in an unanimous parallel of 
friendship and inseparable love intayled unto one another". 
But this sweet "parallel of friendship" unfortunately did not 
last. Toward the end of the century the English church 
was established in the province ; and strict laws were passed 
against those who did not conform;^ everybody, no matter 

^ In 1702 Protestant dissenters and Quakers were exempted from pen- 
alty for non-conforming, and were allowed to have their own meeting- 
houses, provided they gave their forty pounds of tobacco each to support 
the established church. But there was on the face of the law no toleration 
of Catholics. Thus the early example of toleration was for a time lost 
sight of. 



44 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

what his faith, was taxed to support the established 
church. 

After the Revolution of 1688 in England, when William and 

Mary came to the throne, the proprietor of Maryland was 

deprived of the right to govern the province. 

overmnenta gg^j-ly in the ncxt ccntury, however, Benedict 

changes. J -^ ' ' ^ 

Leonard, the fourth Lord Calvert, having re- 
nounced the Catholic faith, was given his rights again (17 15) 
and henceforward, till Maryland became a state, it remained 
a proprietary colony. 

Maryland, like Virginia, was a colony of planters; here as 
in the colony across the Potomac were the big plantation, the to- 
bacco crop, the wide stretches of forest. Men lived in 

Plantations. '^ ' . i t i i i 

the country, not m towns, and, 11 they were wealthy, 
had stately mansions and lived with some degree of luxury. 
The vessels from the old country sailed up the bays and rivers 
to be loaded from the plantations with tobacco or to bring 
the manufactured wares from England to the planter's door. 



THE CAROLINAS — 1663-1700 

Not until after Virginia and Maryland had passed through 
dll the early experiences of settlement, and not until after 
„, „. strong and vigorous colonies had been made on 

The Charter. , ^ , . „ , 

the northeastern coast, were serious efforts made 
to take possession of the region south of Virginia. In the time 
of Charles II there came a burst of colonizing interest and energy, 
and soon after his coming to the throne he gave (1663) to eight 
of his favorites a grant of land. Two years later, by a new 
charter, the boundaries were fixed at parallel 36° 30' on the 
north and 29° on the south — a vast principality stretching 
westward across the continent. These men were then made 
the "true and absolute lords proprietors of the country"; 
md they were granted "full and absolute power" to make 
laws according "to their best discretion . . . with the advice, 
assent and approbation of the freemen". To grant this ab- 
solute power and then to couple it with the provision requiring 



THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700 



45 



The Proprietors. 



:« 



popular assent was like telling a man to run as fast as he wishes, 
provided he keep a ball and chain fastened to his legs. 

The proprietors of this new dominion were among the most 
important men in Eng- 
land. The 
Duke of Al- 
bemarle was that Gen- 
eral Monk by whose in- 
strumentality Charles 
had been brought back 
to the throne of his 
fathers. The Earl of 
Clarendon had been a 
most faithful friend in 
the days of exile. An- 
thony, Lord Ashley, after- 
ward Earl of Shaftesbury, 
held at that time high 
official position, and was 




COUNTRY S^^ 

i ^ (11,80) \ 



Grant or the Carolinas 



considered the most astute politician in the kingdom. He 
IS the original of Achitophel in Dryden's famous satire. 

Before the proprietors took steps to colonize Carolina, 
settlements had already been made within the limits of their 
grant. Some Virginians had settled on the Chowan River. 
This became a permanent settlement, and was the beginning 
of North Carolina. Somewhat later colonists were sent over 
under the auspices of the proprietors. They first settled on 
the west shore ot the Ashley River (1670), but in a few years 
moved to the present site of Charleston. This 
was the beginning of South Carolina. For a time 
these two settlements had the same governor, but 
in political and social life they were different. Each had its 
Dwn character. 

When the proprietors entered earnestly on the task of col- 
Dnization, they undertook to provide a model government for 
their tenants. The few people that were already on the 
ground were getting on very well without an elaborate con- 



First 

lettlement 



46 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

stitution. Here, as elsewhere, they were showing capacity 
for creating institutions as they needed them, suited to their 
wants. But Shaftesbury, the leading spirit in the enterprise, 

entertained the hope that he could avoid "erect- 
"Grand Model", i^g a numerous democracy"; and so, with the 

help of his secretary, John Locke, who later be- 
came one of England's most famous philosophers and writers, he 
drew up a constitution for the colony. Now, even in America, 
the home of written charters and fundamental laws, the maxim 
holds true that constitutions are not made, but grow. The one 
thing that was quite impossible under this plan was growth. 
The country, wild as it was and almost uninhabited, was to 
be divided up with mathematical accuracy, and the feudal 
system in an exaggerated form was to be foisted upon the 
people. Various grades of society were established — proprie- 
tors and landgraves, and caciques and leetmen — and it was 
solemnly declared that "all the children of leetmen shall be 
leetmen, and so to all generations".^ This document, known 
as the "Fundamental Constitutions", is often referred to as 
Locke's "Grand Model". It is surprising that the clever 
philosopher and the crafty Shaftesbury could together have 
countenanced such folly under the name of wisdom.- 

Obedience to such a law was quite impossible, and the 
settlers were thus schooled by necessity to disregard the 
Effect of the wishes of the proprietors, who had shown no 
Model on scuse in appreciating the needs of their colonies. 

Colonial life. 'pj^g northern colony, rejecting this philosophic 
strait-jacket, showed its disobedience in acts of lawlessness; 

^ The charter provided that the proprietor could grant titles of nobil- 
ity, but that these titles must be different from any used in England. Hence 
the use of such words as "landgrave" and "cacique". The leetmen were 
tenants attached to the soil and "under the jurisdiction of their lord, with- 
out appeal". No wonder the "Grand Model" is sometimes called "tlie 
grand muddle". 

- No set of smug favorites or crafty politicians in England could set up 
a supreme and absolute government in America or rule it with a free hand. 
The people were too far away; they had lost too much of their older sense of 
inferiority, when they crossed the ocean and began plantations in the wilds 
of a far-off country; they felt too strongly their own capacity and manhood. 



THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700 47 

the southern colony, a little more peacefully disobedient, early 
gave evidence of political sagacity, and carried out its opposi- 
tion in orderly method with great deftness and skill. "In 
Carolina", says Bancroft, "the disputes of a thousand years 
were crowded into a generation". The spirit of independence 
was early manifested; the people obtained an assembly and 
entered into arguments and disputes with proprietors and gov- 
ernors. 

Proprietary government lasted for some years, and the 
proprietors with curious obstinacy made many attempts to 
fasten the "Grand Model'" on the people, but 
i688-i'7oo ^'^'^ without success. Before the end of the century 
both colonies increased in numbers and strength. 
Negro slavery was introduced, and plantations raising rice 
and indigo were made here and there in the neighborhood of 
Charleston, which ere long became a thriving center for the 
j social and political life of the colony. Various elements were 
added to the population; French Huguenots, Hollanders and 
Scotch-Irish found their way thither. Though still weak in 
1700, the Carolinas were thrifty and prosperous. The people 
of the southern colony, especially, seemed well provided with 
practical sense and progressive spirit. New England is often 
cited as an example of England's great power as a colonizing 
nation. But South Carolina will serve as well; she wished 
no tender paternalism and felt quite capable of looking after 
herself, 

References 

Short accounts: Thwaites, The Colonies, pp. 87-95; Fisher, The 
Colonial Era, Chapter VI. Longer accounts: Bryant and Gay, 
Popular History, Volume II, pp. 268-290, 355-373; Doyle, The Eng- 
lish ill America, The Southern Colonies, Chapter XII; Winsor, Nar- 
rative and Critical History, Volume V, Chapter V; Bancroft, History, 
Volume I, pp. 408-436, Volume II, pp. 10-16; Hildreth, History, 
Volume II, pp. 25-43, 210-213; Fiske, Old Virginia and Her Neigh- 
bors, Volume II, Chapter XV; Andrews, Colonial Self-government^ 
Chapters IX, X. 



CHAPTER III 
THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700 

PLYMOUTH 

Nearly the whole coast of North America had been divided 

between the London and Plymouth Companies. The former 

established Jamestown, but the Plymouth Com- 

Efforts to found p^ny at first had no such success. Some of its 

settlements at , i r i • i- j 

the North. members were zealous for colonization and eager 

to get a hold upon the mainland and to enjoy a 
monopoly of the fisheries; but efforts to this end were fruit- 
less. The same year that Jamestown was founded, colonists 
were sent to the mouth of the Kennebec, but the settlement 
was a failure. When the long bitter winter set in, cold and 
disease brought suffering and death; and the next summer 
the enterprise was abandoned. This failure seems to have prej- 
udiced the people of England against the bleak and forbidding 
north, and for some years no other effort at settlement was 
made. In 1614 John Smith, the doughty soldier who had 
saved Jamestown, made a voyage to these coasts 
na^mer^'^'''* and explored them from the Penobscot to Cape 
Cod. He drew a map of the coast, sprinkled 
it plentifully with English names, and christened it "New 
England". ^ 

We have now to recount the beginnings of permanent north- 
ern settlements, the courageous work of men and women who 
had the strength of heart and lofty purpose to face the cold 
winters of New England, to whom wealth was of little moment 
if they were allowed to worship as they chose and to live their 

1 Smith says on his map: "The most remarqueable parts thus named 
by the high and mighty Prince Charles, Prince of Great Britaine". 

48 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700 



49 



^Joiin^fapc^oje^ Smitfvf c,4ca to beare^) 
YJ^ijv^thyJwtlCttB makt^raffc Steele outwearc 
f'~Thmt,ai then art 'Virtues, 




StmcttTaTieusjcu Iju 
Stohert cierkt tXfiU,t 



Part of John Smith's Map of New England 

simple lives in a state of their own building. To understand 
aright how these permanent settlements came to be made, we 
must get some idea of the religious strivings and dissensions 
of that day in England. 

Students of English history will remember that, in the 
reign of Henry VIII, the Church in England was separated 
from the Roman Church and dependence on the 
in^Engiand^*^ ^ Pope renounced. In the time of Elizabeth, how- 
ever, not all the people were Protestants, nor was 
there agreement as to forms of worship or methods of church 
government. The queen insisted upon conformity to the reg- 



50 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

ulations of the Established Church, of which she was the 
head, and during her reign perhaps the majority of the people 
acquiesced in the conservative position she adopted. Many, 
on the other hand, were dissatisfied, and some were ready to 
suffer persecution rather than conform to the existing order. 
The land still contained Roman Catholics who believed that 
the Pope was the true head of the Church. Others, on the con- 
trary, were desirous of freeing the Church from forms and 
symbolism, which they considered relics of superstition. They 
wished to "purify" the Church by adopting simpler modes of 
worship. They objected to the sign of the cross in baptism, 
to the use of the surplice, and to other practices of this kind. 
Still another class believed that the form of church government 
should be altered, that the creed and ritual should be pre- 
scribed not by the queen but by assemblies. These persons 
were known as Presbyterians, because they believed in the ap- 
pointment of church dignitaries called presbyters. All of 
these classes, so far named, believed in a state church, but dis- 
agreed as to its government or as to forms of worship. There 
was, in addition, another sect of extreme Puritans, who be- 
lieved that a church was a local body of believers, and that 
each such body had the right to elect its own ministers and 
determine its own methods. These men were called "Inde- 
pendents" or "Separatists", because they believed in separa- 
tion from the Established Church. 

Even during the reign of Elizabeth members of dissenting 
sects ^ were severely punished. The Separatists were dealt 
Dissenters "^'^th sharply. Upon the accession of James there 

persecuted. was no improvement. He was a stickler for prerog- 

^ The sects may be thus designated: 

1. Roman Catholics. 

2. Episcopalians: a. High Church, b. Low Church . . . Puritans. 

3. Presbyterians. 

4. Separatists. 

The Low Church, Presbyterians, and Separatists ought all to be called 
Puritans, inasmuch as all desired "purification" to some degree. Persons 
were also called "Conformists", because they accepted the forms of the 
Church, or "Non-conformists", because they objected or refused. 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700 51 

ative, and in his narrow, dogged way was determined to 
reign with a high hand in church and state. But the Puritans 
grew apace. The stately Elizabeth had been able to hold her 
people; her pretensions as the head of the Church seemed not 
gross blasphemy. They loved her well, for she was devoted to 
England, had repelled the hated Spaniard, and protected with 
rare shrewdness her people and her throne. But James was 
personally sloven, mentally a pedant, morally selfish. Demand for 
civil and religious liberty was sure to grow as a revolt against 
the assumption of such a monarch who believed in his divine 
right to rule. 

We are especially interested in a congregation of earnest, 

conscientious folk who came together for worship in the little 

hamlet of Scrooby in Nottinghamshire. They 

TheScrooby c, ^.-xj .ur 

Congregation. "^^'^^^ Separatists, and were therefore set upon 
and tormented. They could not long continue in 
any peaceable condition, but were hunted and persecuted on 
every side, so that their former afflictions "were but as flea- 
bitings in comparison of these which now came upon them". 
Thus molested and beset "by a joynte consente they re- 
solved to goe into ye Low-Countries, where they heard was 
freedome of Religion for all men".^ Betaking themselves to 
Amsterdam (1608), they went thence to Leyden. They had 
much to struggle against in Holland, although the Church 
prospered. "That which was. . . of all sorrows most.heavie 
to be borne was that many of their children . . , were drawn 
away . . . into extra vagante dangerous courses". So they de- 
termined to go to America and build for themselves new 

1 "For some were taken and clapt up in prison, others had their homes 
besett & watcht night and day, & hardly escaped their hands and ye most 

Iwere faine to flie & leave their howses and habitations, and the means of 

Itheir livelehood." 

These words and other quotations of this chapter are from the History 

fof Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford, second governor of the col- 
ony. Bradford has Justly been called the father of American history. His 
book was left in manuscript and was not published until about the middle 
of the nineteenth century. It is beautifully written. "The daily food of 
his spirit was noble". 



52 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

homes far away from the vices of Europe and beyond the 
reach of the long arm of persecution. 

"The place they had thoughts on was some of those vast 
and unpeopled countries of America, which are fruttful & fitt 

for habitation, being devoyd of all civill in- 
pu^^ims.*^"™^ habitants, wher ther are only salvage and brut- 

tish men which range up and downe little other- 
wise than the wild beasts of the same". They wished to settle 
somewhere in the northern part of the London Company's 
grant, south of stern New England, whose cold winters were 
known to them. It did not seem wise for the whole Leyden 
congregation to go, but an advance guard of one hundred and 
two brave souls sailed from Plymouth, England, in the good 
ship Mayflower, September, 1620. The weather was rough and 
tempestuous and when they first saw land it was not the New 
Jersey shore, but the bleak wintry coast of New England, in 
the neighborhood of Cape Cod. There they finally determined to 
stay and to build their homes on the west side of the broad bay, 

at a point to which Smith had already given the 
compact^. ^^^"^ name of Plymouth. Before leaving their ship they 

came together in the little cabin and drew up the 
famous Mayflower Compact, whereby they solemnly coven- 
anted and combined themselves into a ''civill body politick" 
for their "better ordering and preservation". They acknowl- 
edged their dread sovereign King James, but they declared as 
well their intention to make and obey the laws.^ 

The land offered but a dreary prospect. "For, summer 
being done, all things stand upon them with a wether-beaten 
Hardship met facc ; and y* whole countrie, full of woods and 
with courage, thickets, represented a wild and savage heiw". 

^ If they settled in New England, they would be on the land of the Coun- 
cil for New England, a corporation which had just been established in Eng- 
land and given all the land between 40° and 48°. It is unnecessary for us 
to go into the history of this corporation, which for a time owned all New 
England. The pilgrims, seeing that they were to settle there, entered into 
this compact, and of themselves assumed that power of self-management 
which they expected to have in Virginia under the London Company. 
Later they obtained a grant from the Council for New England. 




C^hefe are the Lines thatjhew th^Tocefhut thofc 

nltat/hew thy GraC& and fflory, brighter hec : 

dhjr Fatrc-Jyifccuert'es and- ^owlc Overtfirowes 

Of Salva^C$,miuh CiviUizd fy <^e^-\^ 

"B^Jhewthy S£it'ii;andio it Qlory (Wyt. _ 

So^ikou artBriyPe withoutyhttt ^otac'Widiitv , 




54 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



The first winter was full of terrible distress. In two or 
three months' time half their company were laid away in 
graves under the snow. In the time of most distress there 
were but "6 or 7 sound persons; who . . . spared no pains, 
but . . . fetched wood" for the sick, "made them fires, drest 
them meat, made their beads . . . cloathed and uncloathed 
them. . . . Whilst they had health, yea or any strength con- 
tinuing, they were not wanting to any that had need of 
them". When the Mayflower sailed back to England, not one 
of the settlers returned. They planted corn, they built homes, 




A Pilgrim Meeting House and Fort 



they met together in town meeting, they worshiped God 
in their own simple fashion. The Puritan state and the Puri- 
tan church in America were begun. 

Where there was so much energy and devotion, success was 
sure to follow. The colony never became a large one, but it 
was prosperous, wholesome, and sound. It showed 
the way to others, and prepared for the greater 
migration of which we shall now read. "Out of 
small beginnings", said Bradford, "great things 
have been produced; and, as one small candle may light a 



Out of small 
beginnings 
great things 
are produced 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700 



55 



thousand, so the Kght here kindled hath shone to many, yea, 
in some sort to our whole nation".^ 



MASSACHUSETTS BAY AND HER NEIGHBORS 

We have already seen that during the reign of James I 

there were growing discontents in England. When his son 

Charles came 

Charles I and ^ ^ 

Parliament. 

(1625) new 
troubles set in. He was 
even more obstinate than 
his father, and had high 
ideas of his own authority 
and contempt for such prin- 
ciples of the constitution 
as were meant to restrain 
the arbitrary conduct of the 
king. "The king is in his 
own nature very stiff", 
said Sir Ferdinand Fairfax, 
and this well describes the character of the young monarch 
who now set himself the task of ruling without regard to the 
wishes of the nation. He began almost at once to quarrel with 
the House of Commons, demanding money from it without 
deigning to listen to complaints or consenting to consider 
grievances." But the House could not be browbeaten. They 
wrested from him his consent to the famous Petition of Right. 
His word did not bind him, however; he disregarded his prom- 
ises and went on as before. In 1629 he dissolved Parliament, 
and for eleven years he ruled without one. These were fateful 
years for England. Archbishop Laud and the Earl of Strafford 




Governor Carver's Chair and a Col- 
onial Spinning Wheel 



^ For a picturesque description of life in Plymouth in early days read 
Hart, Contemporaries, vol. i, p. 356, where Governor Edward Winslow is 
quoted. 

^ "I would you would hasten for my supply", he exclaimed in anger 
when the House sent in a list of grievances, "or else it will be the worse foL 
yourselves, for if any ill happen I think I shall be the last to feel it". 



56 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

laid their heavy hands upon the people, seeking to crush out 
all opposition and to cow the people into complete submission 
to the king. 

Because of these conditions in England a great migration 
to America set in. In these years, when King Charles was 

ruling without a parliament and exacting illegal 
migra^tion. taxes from the people, over twenty thousand 

persons left their homes and sailed for New Eng- 
land. The men who came to America in those years cherished 
the principles of the English Constitution, and were from the 
same class as those who, in the great rebellion (1642-49), 
fought to maintain the liberties of England. They believed that 
a monarch had no right to take money from the people without 
the consent of Parliament. They believed that the people had 

rights and privileges, and many of them realized. 

Its meaning. . ° '^ , r r / • i i 

m part at least, the force of the maxim that be- 
came fundamental in the New World — that government ob- 
tains its just powers from the consent of the governed. We 
may consider, therefore, that the principles for which our 
Revolution was afterward fought were brought by these men 
to America from amid the trials of troubled England in the 
days of Charles I. No doubt these principles grew more sturdy 
in the air of a new world, but the principles of 1776 were not 
new ideas or the sudden offspring of the tyranny of George III. 
They were English principles, for which the people of England 
fought in their rebellion and which they made good in the revo- 
lution of 1688; and in the Revolution of 1776 the American 
people, more true to these principles than England herself, 
struggled to maintain them and make them effective. 

To appreciate this movement it is also necessary to un- 
derstand the character and purposes of these emigrants. They 

were Puritans — not Separatists, but believers in 
the Teuiers ^^^ State Church. Believing, however, that the 

Established Church needed purification, they 
came to America that they might worship as they chose, free 
from the persecution of Laud. They did not come to establish 
toleration, but to carry out their own ideas in religion. They 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700 57 

were, moreover, men of ideals and men of character. Many 
of them were men of education and of wide experience. Among 
them were scholars and statesmen and learned ministers. They 
had strong convictions and great earnestness of purpose. The 
characteristic organ of their communities was "not the hand, 
nor the heart, nor the pocket, but the brain".^ 

Having seen the meaning of this great movement, let us 
now see how the settlements were made and how they pros- 
pered. Even before the Puritans of New England in any large 
way turned to thoughts of colonization a few men had settled 
at Salem,^ and this was now taken as a starting-point, a basis 
for more extensive settlement. From the Council for New 
England a tract of land was obtained; the northern boundary 
was three miles north of the Merrimac River, and its southern 
was three miles south of the Charles. It extended westward 
to the Pacific. In 1628 a little company of sixty persons set 
sail for Salem under the leadership of John Endicott, Gentle- 
man, "a. man well known to divers persons of good note".^ 

The next spring a royal charter was granted by the king, 
creating a corporation with the title of the Governor and 
Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England. It is 

* Tyler's History of American Literature, vol. i, p. 98. The student will 
find Chapter V interesting and profitable reading. The men who founded 
Massachusetts are said to have come from that class of men "in whom at 
that time centered for the English-speaking race the possibility for any fur- 
ther progress in human society". See also Fiske, The Beginnings of New 
England, chap. iii. Though not at first Separatists, these men early used 
Congregational church government, and before the middle of the seven- 
teenth century took the name "Congregational". There was by no means 
complete separation between church and state, however, through the whole 
colonial history of Massachusetts. 

- John White, a Puritan rector of Dorchester, England, entertained the 
hope of raising in America "a bulwark against the kingdom of Antichrist". 
In a pamphlet which is attributed to his pen the Puritans were urged to 
"avoid the plague while it is foreseen", and not to tarry till it overtake 
them. 

^ "A fit instrument to begin this wilderness work, of courage bold, un- 
daunted, yet sociable and of a cheerful spirit, loving and austere, apply- 
ing himself to either as occasion served" (from the Wonder-working 
Providence). 



58 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 




Actual boundaries determined _ 
Various boundaries claimed by Mass^ 



The charter, 
1628-29. 



one of the curious contrasts of history that in the same year 
and the same week that the headstrong monarch entered upon 
the task of ruHng without Parliament he granted a charter to 

this company, 
whose work 
was fated to 
result in the erection across 
the water of a great free 
republic, which was des- 
tined to cherish and de- 
velop the principles he was 
seeking to crush. The af- 
fairs of the company were 
intrusted to a governor, 
deputy governor, and eigh- 
teen assistants, who were 
elected annually by the 
" freemen ", as the members 
of the corporation were 
called. These officers were 
to meet once a month or oftener to transact business, and 
four times a year they were to meet with all the freemen in 
"one great, general, and solemn assembly". The freemen in 
these "great and general" courts had the power to make laws 
and ordinances for the welfare of the company and for the 
government of the plantation, "so as such laws and ordinances 
be not contrary and repugnant to the laws and statutes of the 
realm of England". Soon after the granting of the charter 
about four hundred persons embarked for New England. 

The company in England now decided upon the important 

step of transferring its seat of government and taking its charter 

to America. This change was of great moment. 

The Company -p^g company thus fully resident in the New World 

comes to 1 1 • i ■ 

New England, was morc than a tradmg company, such as it 

might appear to be on the face of the charter. 

Legally it was still a corporation under the control of the King 

of England; actually it developed into a self-governing com- 



Grant to Massachusetts Bay 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700 59 

monwealth, a body politic, in nearly all respects independent 

and self-sufficient.^ 

This transference of the charter took place in 1630, and in 

the same year nearly one thousand persons went over to Massa- 
chusetts. This was the greatest effort at coloni- 

More settlers, zation as yet made by Englishmen. John Winthrop,- 
a man of noble and lofty spirit, a magnanimous 

and gentle soul, one of the best products of his age, a high 

type of the Puritan statesman and scholar, came out as 

governor of the colony. 

Other settlements were rapidly founded. Charlestown had 

already been begun, and here Winthrop at first made his 
home; but he later moved to the peninsula that 

ments. ' ^^Y ^^ ^^^ south and west of Charlestown, where 

three bare hills raised their heads, a place "very 

uneven, abounding in small hollows and swamps, covered with 

blueberries and other bushes". With Winthrop went a number 

of other people, and they "began to build their homes against 

winter; and this place was called Boston". Other towns sprang 

up. Within a year of Winthrop's arrival there were eight 

separate settlements extending from Salem on the north to 

Dorchester on the south. 

We may well notice the various changes that were made in 

the government of this colony. The charter of a trading com- 
pany in reality furnished the basis of the govern- 

govemment. Hicnt of the pcople. Self-govemmcnt was not 
here, as in Virginia, a gift from the company to 

the settler. The government of the company had. come across 

' The company records say: "And lastly, the Governor read certain 
propositions conceived by himself, viz.: That for the advancement of the 
Plantation, ... to transfer the government of the Plantation to those that 
shall inhabit there, and not to continue the same in subordination to the 
Company here, as now it is". 

^The picture of Winthrop shown on the next page is engraved in 
many places, notably in Winthrop's History, in Winsor's Memorial 
History of Boston, etc. It is a copy of a painting supposed to be by 
the great artist Vandyke. It hangs in the Senate Chamber of Massa- 
chusetts. He was governor of Massachusetts Bay from his arrival in 1630 
to 1634, and at several other times. 



60 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



the water and was the government of the colony. The right 
to choose ofl&cers and to pass laws and regulations belonged 




John Winthrop 
The Original is in the State House, Boston 

to the members of the company ; but the membership was soon 
increased by admitting into the company other persons who 
were members of the churches in the colony. Thus member- 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700 61 

ship in the church and the right to participate in managing 
general colonial affairs went together. At a later time (1664) 
this right to vote on colonial matters was extended and a 
more liberal rule adopted; but the colony was practically in 
the hands of the church members till Massachusetts was 
compelled to give up the corporation charter under which she 
was living (1684). For the first year or two the governor and 
assistants exercised more power than they were entitled to 
under the charter, and the assistants, it seems, assumed the right 
to hold office until the freemen — that is to say, the members 
of the company — removed them. This plan did not last. 
When Watertown was called upon to pay a tax, "the pastor, 
elder, etc., assembled the people and delivered the opinion that 
it was not safe to pay moneys after that sort, for fear of bring- 
ing themselves and their posterity into bondage". This was 
the true American doctrine, "No taxation without representa- 
tion". Soon after this (May, 1632) the General Court agreed 
"that the governor and assistants should all be new chosen 
every year by the General Court". It was also proposed 
that every town should choose "two men to be at the next 
court, to advise with the governor and assistants about the 
raising of a public stock, so that what they should agree 
upon should bind all". Somewhat later it was ordered "that 
every town should send their deputies, who should assist in 
making laws, disposing lands, etc."^ 

For some time these representatives or deputies sat with 
the governor and assistants as one body, but in 1644 another 
A great business change was made. The assistants and deputies 
on small occasion, did not get on Very well together and so separated 

^ These quotations are from The History of New England from 1630 
to 1649, by John Winthrop. Governor Winthrop in this book, which is in 
the form of a diary, has left for us his own account of the building of Mas- 
sachusetts. 

The General Court was the meeting of the members of the company, 
like the meeting of the stockholders of a modern corporation; but, as the 
text above explains, this meeting became a representative body for law mak- 
ing, while all the freemen retained the right to elect the governor, deputy 
governor and assistants. 



62 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



Towns. 



and formed two houses for making the laws — "a great busi- 
ness", to use Winthrop's words, "upon a very small occasion".^ 
It is important to notice that the settlers in Massachusetts 
did not, as did the Virginians, begin at an early day to reach 
out into the wilderness and make plantations; nor 
did men go alone to distant farms as they did 
when the great West was settled in later years. The neighborr 
hood of Boston was soon occupied by little groups of men and 

women, each group 
with its own church 
and ere long with its 
own school. The 
tilled land, the 
meadows, the pas- 
tures, lay near the 
little group of houses. 
As the years went 
by, small bands of 
men, obtaining land 
from the government 
of the colony, found- 
ed towns in outlying 
regions; but a town meant more than a cluster or line of houses; 
the settlers' homes were usually close together, ranged along the 
village street, but a man was a member of the town, even though 
his house was not close to the others. The town was an asso- 
ciation for government and for business purposes, and in the 
town meeting men managed their own local affairs and looked 
after their simple needs, subject of course to the laws of the 
General Court, which legislated on all general matters for the 
colony.^ 

^ For some time the deputies and assistants had disagreed over their 
powers. When a controversy arose between a rich man and a poor woman 
about the ownership of a stray pig, a majority of the assistants favored 
the man, and a majority of the deputies the woman. This dispute helped 
to bring about the separation into two houses. 

- By the New Englander the town is easily understood; but the Western 
and Southern reader often mistakes the meaning of the term. To the West- 




Chair AND Cradle Used IN THE Early Colonv 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700 63' 

Within four years from the settlement of Boston there werer 

four thousand people in the colony. They were industrious, 

and thrifty; they built houses, laid out roads, and 

Prospenty. •,,,,., t,t • , , ,., 

tilled the soil. JNot content with mere bodily- 
well-being, they decided that learning should not "be buried 
in the graves" of their fathers. They knew that it was "one; 
chief project" of "that old deluder Satan" "to keep men from, 
the knowledge of the Scriptures" by persuading them "from 
the use of tongues." ^ In 1636 the General Court appropriated 
money for a college, and two years later John Harvard, "a 
godly Gentleman and a lover of learning", gave the "one halfe 
of his Estate (it being in all about ijool.) . . . and all his 
library" for this purpose. A law was soon passed requiring 
every township of fifty householders to maintain a school for 
reading and writing, and every town of a hundred householders, 
a grammar school to fit youths for the university. 

Though the colony grew and prospered, its earlier days 
were not free from anxiety. The movement to America was 

not looked on with favor by the high-church 
England ^^^ authorities in England, and for a time it looked 

as if the company might lose its charter, and be 
brought immediately under the king. But the danger blew over, 
the company went on, and soon Charles I and his advisers had too, 
much trouble at home to worry over Puritans across the sea. 
While this danger from its foes in England was disturbing 
the colony there was also trouble within, growing largely out. 
of religious differences. We must remember that the Mas- 
sachusetts leaders did not come to the New World ta 



em man the town usually means a group of houses, sometimes it may be a 
city, sometimes only a hamlet. The New Englanders did settle in groups 
and that fact is important; but it is also a fact that the settlers had com- 
mon interests; the earlier settlers were given the land as a body; together 
they looked after their own immediate concerns. The town meeting pro- 
vided for taxes and passed the regulations 'that were needed. The town 
cystem was the general system by which New England was settled. 

^ These words are part of an ordinance passed in 1647, at which time 
the law for the establishment of a school in each township was passed,. 
Legislation on the subject had been passed even earlier. 
« 



64 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

set an example of religious freedom — not at all. They 

were out of patience with church rule in England; but 

they came here to build their own "Bible 

Intolerance. i i ^ i i • i i 

commonwealth and to worship as they chose. 
Leaders in any great enterprise are likely to be determined 
souls, and these men were not ready to put up with differ- 
ences of opinion and endure a variety of religious forms and 
beliefs; for there was one true way and he that would not 
follow therein must be narrow-minded or obstinate at the 
best. So first and last there was much harsh treatment of 
those who ventured to announce new and unsavory doctrines. 
What were the elders for but to expound the Scriptures, that 
all might know the truth and follow it?^ Thus the leaders 
believed and thus they practiced. 

Among the first of those that came to disturb the colony 

was young Roger Williams, a man of ability, of sound morals 

and lofty purposes. He could not live quietly 

Roger Williams. . , -^ . . ^, . , , , , ,, , i 

Without airing his views; he loved to talk and he 
reveled in argument. When he asserted that the powers of 
the civil magistrates extended only to the bodies, goods and 
the outward state of men, in other words, that the civil 
officers should not meddle with church afifairs but let men 
worship as they chose — when he found fault with the charter 
and uttered "new and dangerous opinions", he was ordered 
to leave the colony. Fleeing into the wilderness (January, 
1636), "sorely tossed" as he afterward said, "in a bitter 
winter season, not knowing what bread or bed did mean", he 
made his way to Narragansett Bay and together with a few 
friends from the settlements founded Providence. The first 
government of this little colony was a simple democracy 

1 To speak sharply of New England intolerance is easy enough, but 
withal there is no need of using hard words about men of the past who strove 
conscientiously to live the life and teach the truth they heartily believed in. 
The historical fact is that these men did not believe in or practice freedom 
in religious belief, and the historical fact is that toleration and a free spirit 
grew as time went on. A man like Williams was ahead of his day, a voice 
in the wilderness, a prophet who was to help bring forward, though with 
bickering meanwhile, the days of peace. 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700 65 

built on the principle of majority rule and its power extended 
not to matters of conscience but only to "civil things".^ 

And then came Anne Hutchinson, an able and "nimble- 
witted" woman, who had the boldness to gather men and 

women at her house and talk of religious things. 
Hutchinson. She, a woman, dared to expound new doctrines 

and to point out a way of life. Her sayings are 
to us now strange and clumsy things; we need to be steeped 
in the lore of theology before we understand what the words 
mean and what the turmoil was all about. But the people 
of Boston understood or thought they did, and Mistress Anne 
stirred up such discussion that even the governor of the colony 
was involved. The little town of Boston throbbed with interest 
and many a faithful follower began to look askance at the 
ministers and their teaching. The leaders of the people and 
the elders of the church, shocked and distressed by the 
doctrines and the presumption of the woman, turned upon 
her; so she too was sent from the colony and went forth 
into the forest. As Williams had done before her, she made 
her way southward with a few faithful followers; a settlement 
was made on the island of Aquidneck — afterward called the 
Isle of Rhodes, or Rhode Island — which was bought from the 
Indians for "forty fathoms of white beads". 

The spirit of intolerance was triumphant when Anne 
Hutchinson left Boston; "no unsound, unsavorie and gidie 
fancy" dared lift its head or "abide the light". When the 
Quakers came a few years later and preached their doctrine 
of the "inner light", declaring that every man should follow 
conscience without direction from priest or minister, they were 
set upon and banished. Some of them daring to return 
were hanged in Boston. That was the beginning of the end, 
however; public opinion did not support such severe measures, 
and gradually a freer and more liberal sentiment grew up 
in the colony .^ 

^ Read Fiske, Beginnings of New England, 114; Eggleston, Beginners 
of a Nation, Book iii, Chap. ii. 

^ See Fiske, Beginnings of New England, pp. 180, 181. In Hart, Contem- 



66 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 




^. ^^ 



Settlers went into the Narragansett region, as we have 
seen, with Roger Williams and Mrs. Hutchinson, and soon af- 
terward others 

Rhode Island. 

went there and 
founded new settlements. In 
1644 a patent was obtained 
from the Parliament, giving the 
people a large measure of self- 
government, and uniting the 
settlements — the beginning of 
the legal organization of Rhode 
Island. 

While the authorities at 
Boston were busy in bidding 
disturbers be si- 
lent or leave, men 
were beginning to move into 
the western region. Saybrook 
at the mouth of the Connecti- 



i-.-'c Vo'i'A,.; ,1, 




Connecticut. 



Rhode Island and Providence 
Plantations 



cut River was founded (1635); and ini 63 8 people came from New 
Englandand,passing through the old colony, founded New Ha- 
ven. But the most important movement was westward from the 
towns around Boston harbor to the valley of the Connecticut. 
The great leader of the enterprise was Thomas Hooker, a 
learned and eloquent preacher and a man of personal force. ^ In 
1636 a band of settlers led by their Hooker made their way 

poraries, etc., vol. i, p. 479, will be found The Justification of Mary Dyer, 
one of the Quakers who was hanged; also the trial of Winlock Christison, 
p. 481. Christison was condemned to death, but public sentiment 
prevented the execution. 

1 "In matters . . . which concern the common good", said Hooker, "a gen- 
eral council chosen by all to transact business which concerns all, I con- 
ceive . . . most suitable to rule and most safe for relief of the whole". This 
sentiment was different from that of Winthrop, who had declared that 
"the best part is always the least, and, of that best part, the wiser part is 
always the lesser". This difference between the ideas of Hooker and Win- 
throp may perhaps illustrate the reasons for the movement to the Connec- 
ticut Valley, but in addition to this the people wanted more and better 
grazing for their cattle. 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700 67 

to the Connecticut valley and began the building of Hart- 
ford.^ Within a year the new colony had eight hundred peo- 
ple gathered in the three towns of Windsor, Hartford and 
Wethersfield. There was much suffering in the ear- 
Towns. ^^ ^y y^3,rs, for to build for new homes in a wilderness 
under the best of circumstances means privation' 
if not actual want. The worst of horrors, an Indian war, was 
added to other trials. In the summer of 1637 a small band of 
white men attacked the Pequots in their palisaded town and 
practically exterminated them. "It is reported by themselves''^ 
said one of the victorious party, "that there were about four 
hundred souls in the fort, and not five of them escaped out 
of our hands". 

In 1639 the settlers formed a government for themselves 
and drew up the famous Fundamental Orders. The new gov- 
ernment was not unlike that of Massachusetts. 

Fundamental i-nu •i.i^'ii. x T_i iji r 

Orders of 1639 ^ '^^ mhabitauts of each town could choose four 
deputies in the legislative assembly, called the 
General Court, while the governor and six magistrates or as- 
sistants, also forming part of the General Court, were elected 
by the whole body of the people. Possibly, if we compared these 
Orders, drawn up by these free-thinking men in the Connecticut 
wilderness, with modern constitutions and with all the prin- 
ciples that have grown up about them, we should hesitate to 
say that they were really what they have sometimes been called 
— "the first truly political written constitution in history". 
But even if they were in one sense not a constitution, we should 
not lose sight of the significance of the fact that these frontiers- 
men were showing marked capacity for organization and were 
easily and of their own accord mapping out a system of govern- 
ment and preparing to live quietly under the laws made by 
themselves. Such an act as this was to be done once and again 

^Hooker's "wife was carried on a horse litter; and they drove one 
hundred and sixty cattle, and fed of their milk by the way" — is the 
statement of Winthrop. They were "making the first of those pilgrim- 
ages toward the setting sun which later became a marked characteristic 
of American life". — (Channing, History of the United States, I, 400.) 



68 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



as the American frontier was pushed westward, and as men, cut 
ofif by the intervening forest from their older homes, found need 
of new laws and their own magistrates. 

Settlements were also made in the early years in the land 
that became New Hampshire and Maine, largely made up 

of men 

New Hampshire r .■, 

and Maine. ^^Om the 

older 
settlements, and they 
were, during most of 
the century, a part 
of Massachusetts. 
These outlying re- 
gions at the north 
grew slowly. A trav- 
eler who sailed along 
the coast in 1638 de- 
scribed the region as 
"no other than a mere 
wilderness, with here 
and there by the sea- 
side a few scattered 
plantations with a few 
houses".^ 

Almost immedi- 
ately after the found- 
ing of Connecticut 
there was some discussion as to the advisability of forming 




TLA N T I c 



OCEAN 



Territory Granted to Mason and Gorges 



' Some settlers seem to have been at Dover in New Hampshire as early 
as 1628. Mason and Gorges, two Englishmen who were for many years 
interested in colonization, obtained at an early day a grant to all the land 
between the Merrimac and the Kennebec. This property was later divided 
and Mason became possessed of the territory between the Merrimac and 
the Piscataqua. Gorges received the remainder. Mason's share was, 
roughly speaking, New Hampshire, and as we have seen, was after a time 
annexed to Massachusetts. On Gorges's portion of this grant were a num- 
ber of little settlements, some of them made quite early in the history of 
New England. 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700 



69 



a league among the various New England colonies. The pur- 
pose of combining was to secure mutual protection. The 
Pequot War had shown the danger of an Indian outbreak. 
Moreover, the Dutch on the Hudson were trouble- 
some and ambitious neighbors, while the French 
at the north, though seemingly afar off, had already shown that 
they were near enough to cause uneasiness if not danger. 



Need of union. 



i 




ilonomoy Ft. 



Extent of the Settlements in New England in 1660 

A union was therefore formed : Massachusetts, Connecticut, 

Plymouth and New Haven, entering into a "firm and perpetual, 

league of friendship" with the right to determine 

New England upon all matters of common interest. The con- 

Confederation, r i • ^ ^ 

i643-'84. federation lasted some years, in fact not en- 

tirely disappearing until 1684. It must have 
had an important effect upon the later history of America. 



k 



70 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

Eighty years passed by before the popular representatives 
from all the colonies came together to protest against the 
novel laws of England, and to body forth the real unity 
of interest in the settlements scattered along the Atlantic 
coast; but a remembrance of the New England Confederation 
could not have died out during those eighty years, and it 
doubtless aided in the work of forming a perpetual union. 

From the outbreak of the civil war in England (1642) 
Until the restoration of the Stuarts (1660) New England was 

allowed to govern itself; but Charles II was 
charters hardly seated on his throne before he turned his 

attention to America. New Haven had received 
and sheltered two of the fugitive judges of the court that had 
condemned his royal father to death. Spite of its protestations, 
it was now annexed to Connecticut. The latter colony was 
given a liberal charter, which became very dear to the people. 
Rhode Island, too, received a new charter. It is an interest- 
ing fact that Charles II, who in England gave no sign of loving 
free government, should have granted these two charters, so 
liberal and good that the people cherished them and kept them 
as their fundamental constitutions well down into the nine- 
teenth century.^ 

Although Charles II gave these charters to Connecticut and 
Rhode Island, allowing them great freedom in ruling themselves, 

the position of Massachusetts annoyed the Eng- 
attacked. ^^^^ government, which tried daring those years 

to bring about some kind of orderly management, 
oversight and direction of colonial affairs. Massachusetts 
was obstinate and stiff necked and felt quite able to look after 
herself, and though she succeeded for years in postponing and 
avoiding the trouble she had at length to yield. First New Hamp- 
shire was taken from her and made a royal province, the first 
in New England. Next, the old charter of Massachusetts was 
annulled, the charter under which this great Puritan common- 



^ The charter of Rhode Island (1663) continued to be the Constitution 
of the State until 1843. Connecticut preserved hers until 1818. 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700 71 

wealth had grown and prospered and become the mother of 
colonies (1684). 

Then after James II came to the throne (1685), the plan 
was begun of bringing the northern colonies under one govern- 
ment to be directed from England. Sir Edmund 
Government. Andros was scnt ovcr to carry out the royal 
will. He did not succeed in doing much with 
Connecticut and Rhode Island, but he entered with vigor upon 
his course with Massachusetts, and the old colony saw the 
General Court abolished at his word, town meetings limited 
to one a year, and other steps taken that aroused a bitter spirit 
of anger and resentment. Nominally, Andros was governor- 
general of all the vast territory north and east of the Delaware 
— the Dominion of New England as it was called. But his 
power did not last long. With the Revolution of 1688 in Eng- 
land, James II hurried away to France; and, when the news 
came to Massachusetts, the people poured into Boston, seized 
upon Andros and set up their own government again. 

The tyranny of Andros doubtless taught its lesson to the 
New Englanders. Seventy-five years later men remembered 
this attack upon their liberties. Had the plans of James worked 
smoothly at home, the boasted freedom of England would have 
disappeared. Had his plans been carried out in America, free 
colonial life would have been crushed out. But the Revolution 
of 1688 saved the liberties of England and America, and in the 
next century the colonies strengthened their hold upon prin- 
ciples of self-government. 

After the Revolution, when William and Mary came to the 
English throne, Rhode Island and Connecticut were allowed 
to go under their old charters, but Massachusetts 
was given a new one (1691). It provided for the 
appointment by the crown of a governor, lieutenant- 
governor, and secretary ; the assistants or councilors and 
the representatives constituted with the governor the Gen- 
eral Court. The representatives were to be elected by the 
towns; but the assistants and representatives together chose 
each year the assistants for the following year. Plymouth was 



72 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

added to Massachusetts. Maine and Acadia also belonged to 
her. Thus the colony held the coast, with the exception of the 
colony of New Hampshire, from Buzzard's Bay to the Gulf of 
St. Lawrence. 

At the end of the seventeenth century the New England 
Colonies were strong and prosperous. Year by year little groups 
of people founded new towns in the wilderness or along the 
coast; year by year there were new evidences of strength and 
capacity for self-government. 

References 

Short accounts: Thwaites, The Colonies, pp. 1 12-177; Fisher, ^^^ 
Colonial Era, pp. 82-176; Eggleston, The Beginners of a Nation, 
pp. 98-220, 266-346. Longer accounts: Fiske, Beginnings of New 
England; Bancroft, History, Volume I, pp. 177-407, 584-589, also 
Volume II, pp. 47-69; Tyler, England in America, Chapters VII- 
XIX; Andrews, Colonial Self-government, Chapters XVI-XVIII; 
Channing, History of the United States, Volume I, Chapters X-XV; 
Volume II, Chapters III, VI, VII. 



CHAPTER IV 
THE MIDDLE COLONIES— 1614-1700 

NEW YORK 

While England was getting a strong footing in the North 
and at the South along the Atlantic coast, the Dutch began 
„ „ , to take possession in the middle region.^ An 

Henry Hudson. , , i r tt tt i 

explorer by the name of Henry Hudson, an 
Englishman in the employ of a Dutch company, seeking to 
solve the old problem and to find a short route to the silks and 
spices of the Orient, sailed one summer day (1609) into New 
York harbor and then up the noble river that was to bear his 
name. He found no route to India but was deeply impressed 
with the beauties of the country, and returned to Holland to 
recount his travels and to report that from the natives who 
inhabited the new-found land furs could be had almost for the 
asking — for baubles and trinkets and gewgaws. 

Thus Hudson opened up to the Dutch a new trade, and the 
merchants of Amsterdam were not slow in taking advantage 
of it. Traders soon found their way to the 
Company. "^ '^ banks of the new river to traffic with the na- 
tives. Trading stations were founded. Finally 
a company was organized and granted immense power (1621). 
To this West India Company Holland transferred her pros- 

^ In the seventeenth century Holland was one of the most prosperous 
and progressive countries of Europe. While Elizabeth was on the throne 
of England this sturdy little nation was engaged in a long fight against the 
tyranny of Spain — a fight full of deeds of daring and of bravery beyond 
compare. It came out of this conflict a self-reliant people — stronger, more 
vigorous than ever before — while the power of Spain, the mighty oppressor, 
was checked. Now, just as England was getting ready to colonize and to 
build up her great states in the New World, brave little Holland was a 
serious rival. The Dutch were the carriers of Europe. In the middle of 

73 



74 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

pects in the New World; but a thoroughly successful colony 
could not arise under the direction of a company whose only 
end was gain. 

The first colony under the new company was sent over in 
1623 and settlements were soon made here and there — at Fort 
Orange, where Albany now stands, at New Amsterdam on 
Manhattan Island, where one of the great cities of the world 
now raises its lofty towers and buildings in the air, and even at 
places on the Delaware and the Connecticut. Controlling 
this great central region and holding the Hudson River, which 
offered a highway to the Indian trade and fur trade of the 
interior, New Netherland, as the Dutch called the colony, 
had a favorable location and might, one would think, have 
prospered greatly. But, on the whole, things did not go on 
very well. Friendly relations with the Iroquois Indians were 
established, and loads of furs were carried away to the marts of 
Holland; but you cannot found a big, substantial colony with- 
out farms, and farmers, and families, and contented settlers. 
Big estates were given a few men who would come to the 
country and bring colonists with them — the "patroons"^ these 
men were called, but in the middle of the century the colony 
was not so firmly planted, so safe in its own strength and 
prosperity as the self-reliant settlements of New England, which 
had grown up without the orders of a company that lived in 
Europe and was bent on making money. ^ 

the seventeenth century they are said to have had half the carrying trade 
of the Continent. Amsterdam was a great mart of trade. It was to "be 
expected that when the sails of Holland were upon every sea there would 
be some attempt to secure a hold upon America. 

^ Each person establishing a colony of fifty persons over fifteen years 
of age was entitled to become the owner and ruler of a strip ^f country on 
the banks of some river sixteen miles in width, or eight miles where both 
banks were occupied, and stretching back from the river indefinitely. 

- There was much truth in the complaints of some of the colonists: 
"It seems", they said, "as if from the first the company had sought to 
stock this land with their own employees, which was a great mistake, for 
when their time was out they returned home, taking nothing with them 
except a little in their purses and a bad name for the country. . . . The 
directors here, though far from their masters, were close by their profit". 



THE MIDDLE COLONIES— 1614-1700 



75 



The Dutch were not allowed to maintain in peace their 
claim to all this wide territory in which they planted their fur 
stations; other nations wanted a share. In 1638 
the Swedes built a fort, called Fort Christina, 
on the Delaware River, where Wilmington now stands, and 
called the adjoining territory New Sweden. The Dutch 



New Sweden. 




EUROPEAN POSSESSIONS 1650 

BASED ON EXPLORATIONS AND SETTLEMENT. 

r~~l ENGLISH POSSESSIONS I 1 DUTCH POSSESSIONS 

I I FRENCH " l^^i SWEOISH " 

I I SPANISH " 



strenuously objected and after much dispute the Swedes yielded 
and New Sweden disappeared. 



76 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



In the meantime, the New Englanders, strongly objecting 
to the attempts of the Dutch to build forts on the Connecticut, 

took possession of the country themselves; Dutch 
New Nether- trading Companies could not hold out against 
NewYorr'' such scttlcrs as entered the Connecticut Valley 

from the older settlements of the coast. And then 
(1664) war broke out between England and Holland, an Eng- 
lish fleet appeared in the harbor before New Amsterdam, 




Peter Stuyvesant's House in New Amsterdam 

This house was erected in 1658 and was afterward called the 

White Hall 

From an old print in Valentine's Manual 

and the control of the great river passed into English 
hands. Charles II gave the newly acquired territory to his 
brother James, the Duke of York, and it was rechristened 
New York. 



THE MIDDLE COLONIES— 1614-1700 77 

Under English rule the colony on the Hudson went on and 
gradually took on the form of government that the other 
English colonies had. In 1683 an assembly was 
provided for, and after the Revolution of 1688 
the colony, now a royal colony under the government of 
England, went steadily forward, growing in population and in 
strength.^ It is hard for us to picture to ourselves the great 
state of New York and its mighty city as they were at the end 
of the seventeenth century — a settlement of something less 
than twenty-five thousand souls, some of them traders and set- 
tlers up the river, some of them small merchants and farmers 
on Manhattan and in its immediate neighborhood. The Dutch 
were the largest landowners and they still retained their own 
dress and followed their own customs without much reference 
to the invading Englishman. The steady, conservative spirit 
of the Hollander doubtless continued to influence the life of New 
York for many decades; but even at this early day men of many 
nations had come hither. It had become a "community of 
• many tongues, of many customs, of many faiths". 

References 
Short accounts: Thwaites, The Colonies, pp. 196-210; Fisher, 
The Colonial Era, Chapter IX; Lodge, Short History, pp. 285-302. 
Longer accounts: Bancroft, /7?^/or_v, Volume I, pp. 475-527, 577-582; 
Channing, History of the United States, Volume I, Chapters XVI, 
XVII, Volume II, Chapter II; Tuckerman, Peter Stuyvesant; Rob- 
erts, New York, pp. 1-185; Roosevelt, New York; M. W. Good- 
man, A. C. Royce, R. Putnam, Historic New York, pp. 1-191 ; Fiske, 
Dutch and Quaker Colonies, Volume I. 

1 It will be remembered that for a short time New York with the young 
colony of New Jersey at the south were placed under the control of Andros. 
In 1688, when news came that King James was king no longer, the people 
drove out their royal deputy in New York. This revolt was headed by an 
impetuous German by the name of Jacob Leisler, who, once in the lead, 
wished to remain there, and assumed the powers of government, which he 
wielded in arbitrary and reckless fashion. When the new governor ap- 
pointed by the king came to take possession, Leisler hesitated to surrender 
the colony. This he was soon forced to do, however, and soon afterwards 
he was hanged for treason, the order for his execution, it is said, being 
signed by the governor while under the influence of drink. 



78 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



NEW JERSEY — 1664-1700 

What is now the State of New Jersey was part of the terri- 
tory claimed by the Dutch under the name of New Netherland. 
Before the EngKsh seized the country something had been done 
to settle this part, although it had not developed, as might have 
been expected, in the fifty years of Dutch occupancy. The 
Duke of York, as proprietor of the territory newly acquired, 
ceded (1664) this southern portion, lying between the Delaware 
River and the sea, to Lord John Berkeley and Sir George Car- 
teret. The new province was named New Cae- 
settiement saria or New Jersey, in honor of Carteret, who as 

governor of the island of Jersey had heroically 
defended it against the Parliamentarians during the great re- 
bellion. The proprietors at once issued a document known as 
"the Concessions", which outlined a form of government and 
laid down various rules for the administration of the colony; 
broad and liberal in its terms, it was cherished by the people as 
a charter of liberties. There were some settlers already in the ' 
province who had come in under the Dutch rule. In 1665 
Philip Carteret, a nephew of the proprietor, came out as gov- 
ernor, bringing with him a small body of Englishmen. The 
settlement thus founded was given the name of Elizabeth, in honor . 
of Lady Carteret. Other settlements were made 

The Assembly. r 1 • • r i i i • 

soon after this, emigrants from the other colonies, 
especially from New England, coming in to take advantage 
of the privileges offered by the new proprietors. In 1668 an 
assembly was summoned, and the legislative history of New 
Jersey was begun. 

Berkeley, growing weary of the troubles involved in manag- 
ing the colony, sold his share to some Quakers, and this interest 

finally passed into the hands of William Penn and 
d^tded""^ a few of his associates. About this time (1674) 

the colony was divided into two parts, Carteret 
obtaining East Jersey, The Quakers, to whom fell the western 
portion, now entered upon the task of legislation and control. 
Outcasts and outlaws in other organized states, how would they 



THE MIDDLE COLONIES— 1614-1700 



79 



East New Jersey. 



legislate when the power and responsibility came into their 
hands? Their first acts were marked by a generous and kindly 
spirit, and breathed a true democracy. "We lay", they said, 
The Quakers "^ foundation for after ages to understand their 
in West New liberty as Christians and as men, that they may 
Jersey. ^^^ ^^ brought into bondage but by their own 

consent; for we put the power in the people". Many Quakers, 
glad to find a refuge from 
oppression, now made their 
way to the new colony. 

Shortly after this 
George Carteret died, and 
his rights in 
East Jersey 
were sold to Penn and 
twenty-three associates. 
These associates were not 
all Quakers; there were 
among them Presbyterians 
from Scotland, dissenters, 
and Catholics. Within a 
few years many Scotch 
came over, and thus began 
the strong Scotch and 
Presbyterian element of 
New Jersey. In the mean- 
time there had been great 
trouble with Andros, the 
duke's governor in New 
York, who set up certain 
claims of right in East 
Jersey, and could not re- 
frain from annoying interference in the colony. After a time 
the rights of the proprietors were acquired by the crown 
(1702), and the two Jerseys united into one became a royal 
colony. 

The history of New Jersey in these early days can scarcely 




-Proposed Boundary 

Line of 1687 

(^Unfinished) 



East Jersey and West Jersey 

Showing the hne of 1687 (unfinished) and 

the proposed boundary 



80 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

be called interesting. There is a certain lack of unity and pur- 
pose in the colony; it was not a great experiment in religion and 
politics like New England, nor had it the picturesque quali- 
ties of the southern colonies. Despite legisla- 
the^ Toicm " ^^^'^ wrangliugs and proprietary disputes, the 
colony prospered steadily and soberly, growing into 
a substantial commonwealth. Farming was almost the sole oc- 
cupation, and all through the next century the colony was com- 
mercially dependent on New York or on the more prosperous 
and vigorous colony which grew up on its western border. 

References 
Short accounts: Thwaites, The Colonies, pp. 210-215; Fisher, 
The Colonial Era, Chapter X; Lodge, Short History, pp. 263-267; 
Bancroft, History, Volume I, pp. 520-523 and 546-551, also Volume 
II, pp. 3i-33;HiLDRETH,fl^i5^or>', Volume II, pp. 51-61 and 216-218; 
Channing, History of the United States, Volume II, Chapter XL 

PENNSYLVANIA AND DELAWARE — 1681-170O 

We have already mentioned the Friends, or Quakers, some 
of whom early came into various colonies, and were there 
treated with great harshness. They were an im- 
Am^rka "^ portant element in English colonization. Three 
of the colonies, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and 
Delaware, were built up largely under their guidance and in- 
fluence. It thus happened that the very central portion of the 
English domain in America felt the impress of the beliefs and 
ideals of these people. 

The religion of the Society of Friends had its beginnings in 

the mind of George Fox, the son of an English weaver. He had 

been placed as apprentice with a shoemaker, but 

George Fox. ^ . ^ \ ^ ,.,.,', 

his master was also engaged m keepmg sheep, and 
George, during part of his apprenticeship, was given the task 
of watching the flocks, a business well suited to his quiet 
spirit. He became deeply distressed for the safety of his soul; 
but from none of the priests or preachers could he find help. I 
Some ridiculed, some abused him; none were able to bring light "' 
to the darkened soul of the poor shoemaker's apprentice. He 



THE MIDDLE COLONIES— 1614-1700 81 

seems to have been woefully cast down, in a sort of ecstasy of 
misery, when the truth began to dawn upon him that the bHnd 
could not lead the blind, that "being bred at Oxford or Cam- 
bridge was not enough to qualify men to be ministers of Christ", 
that all the learning of the universities could not lead a man to 
heaven. "Thus he grew to a knowledge of divine things, 
without the help of any man, book, or writing", and there 
shone as into his very inmost soul the strong truth that there 
is a living God. He came to believe that each person is given 
light from on high, that every one is called upon to follow 
the guidance of that "inner light". These words contain the 
Quaker's creed. "The Quaker", says Bancroft, "has but one 
word, THE INNER LIGHT, the voicc of God in the soul. That 
light is a reality, and therefore in its freedom the highest 
revelation of truth; ... it shines in every man's breast, and 
therefore joins the human race in the unity of equal rights". ^ 
Fox was moved to preach, and soon made many converts. 
Those who embraced his doctrines became in turn imbued with 

the desire to win men to repentance. Messen- 
the^ Quaker sect. S^'"^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^ faith Wandered over Europe, 

calling upon all to be guided by the light in 
their own souls. Fox was ridiculed, beaten, thrust into prison, 
but his courage waxed ever stronger, and his followers rapidly 
increased. Everywhere the Quakers were persecuted, but they 
persisted in the faith. The courage and devotion of the sect 
are well illustrated by the story that, when Fox was in Lanceston 
jail, one of his people called upon Cromwell and asked to be im- 
prisoned in his stead. "Which of you", said Cromwell, turning 
to his council, "would do as much for me if I were in the same 
condition" ? 

Quakerism cherished the essence of democracy, because 
one of its necessary beliefs was that each man was the equal 

of every other. Certain manners and habits 
eqi^ity^of men. emphasized this kernel of their creed. They 

believed there should be no distinctions in dress, 
no difference in title, no unnecessary elaboration in speech. 

^ Bancroft, History, vol. i, p. 535. 



82 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



The hat was to be kept on the head before the most august 
tribunal, because to stand uncovered savored of the homage 
due to God alone. Simple language with ''thee and thou" 
was addressed to all alike, and the unadorned coat gave no 
chance for superiority in apparel. "My Lord Peter and My 
Lord Paul are not to be found in the Bible; My Lord Solon 
or Lord Scipio is not to be read in Greek or Latin stories". 

Among the followers of Fox was one man who was a far 
greater soul than the founder of his faith. William Penn may 
„,.„. „ justly be called one of the great men of our his- 

Wilham Penn. •* -' ° . 

tory.^ His father was a man of importance 
in England in the days of Charles II and was greatly shocked 

when his son joined the Quak- 
ers — common and simple people, 
most of them. But the young 
man clung to his faith and suf- 
fered and toiled with the rest. 
In spite of his social position 
he was many times in prison; 
and these rough experiences 
had doubtless their effect in 
deepening his sympathies with 
the poor and the oppressed. 
Rude schools as they were, the 
Old Bailey and the Tower may 
have given him broader views 
of life and led him to see with 
greater clearness the needs of 
men and the crime and follies 
of the state. 

When Penn's father died, he was left wealthy, inheriting 
claims on the Government to a large amount. The frivolous 
Charles II had no zeal for paying debts in cash, 
and so in 1681 Penn received in satisfaction of 
his claim a vast estate, stretching westward from the Delaware 




Penn's colony. 



1 His father, Admiral Penn, had won distinction by the capture of 
Jamaica and stood in special favor at court because he had helped to rein- 



THE MIDDLE COLONIES— 1614-1700 83 

River through five degrees of longitude.^ The king gave the 
name of Pennsylvania to the province in honor of Penn's father. 
Penn had powers in his hands as proprietor of the province, 
a power in most respects Hke that of Lord Baltimore in Mary- 
land ; but he planned to establish a free common- 
Commonwealth, wealth and not to wait till privileges were wrested 
from him. 2 He issued the "Frame of Govern- 
ment", a generous bestowal of powers upon the people, and 
the colony took upon itself most of the rights and burdens of 
self government. The "Frame" proved cumbrous and heavy 

state the Stuarts. The son, while a student at Oxford, was much affected 
by the teachings of the Quaicers. Refusing to attend the religious services 
of the University, he was expelled and sent home in disgrace. He now 
spent some time on the Continent, especially in Paris, and the gayeties of 
life seem for a time to have banished all serious inclination from his mind. 
He returned to England in 1664, and thence went to Ireland, where he 
came under the influence again of the Quaker preacher who had won such 
a hold upon him in his student days. He was then fully converted to the 
new faith. This was a great event for Quakerism, because converts among 
the wealthy and influential had been very few, and because Penn was in 
himself a man of rare vigor, sweetness and ability. 

' The boundaries of Pennsylvania, as of most of the colonies, were later 
subject to dispute. The northern line had to be agreed upon with New 
York. Connecticut also claimed the northern portion, and this gave rise 
to serious disputes in later years. See Fiske, The Critical Period of Amer- 
ican History, pp. 148-150; McMaster, History of the People of the United 
States, vol. i, pp. 210-216. 

^"And because", he said, "I have been somewhat exercised at times 
about the nature and end of government among men, it is reasonable to 
expect that I should endeavor to establish a just and righteous one in this 
province. . . . For the nations want a precedent". And again he wrote to 
a friend: "For the matter of liberty and privilege, I propose that which is 
extraordinary, and to leave myself and successors no power of doing mis- 
chief — that the will of one man may not hinder the good of an whole coun- 
try". The same broad generosity is shown in the letter which he now 
issued to the people who were already within the limits of his grant: "You 
shall be governed", he promised, "by laws of your own making, and live a 
free and, if you will, a sober and industrious people". 

His broad philosophy is seen in this statement: "Any government is 
free to the people under it (whatever be its frame) where the laws rule, and 
the people are a party to the laws, and more than this is tyranny, oligarchy 
or confusion . . . Liberty without obedience is confusion, and obedience 
without liberty is slavery". 



84 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

and was later modified, but under Penn's wise guidance free 
institutions were shaped to the real needs of the people. There 
was not always perfect peace between the people and the pro- 
prietor, or between the people and the governor whom he ap- 
pointed. Differences arose which were a great annoyance to 
Penn, who longed for harmony and hoped that the colony 
would be an example to the nations. But as the people had a 
large share in government, they relished the privilege of argu- 
ment and dispute — perhaps always an accompaniment of 
freedom. "For the love of God, me and the poor country", ex- 
claimed Penn, amidst the political disputes that arose, "be not 
so governmentish, so noisy and open in your dissatisfactions". 
But, unfortunately for peace-loving proprietors, the history 
of America was to be the history of a "governmentish" people. 
In 1682 Penn became possessed of New Castle and the 
territory lying to the south of it. This land he acquired from 
_ , the Duke of York. It came to be called the "Terri- 

Delaware. . ,, ., 1 • 

tones , while Pennsylvania was known as the 
"Province". For some time these two communities were en- 
rolled under one government, but for some reason each was 
jealous and suspicious of the other; disputes arose, and peace 
was finally secured by making the Territories into the separate 
colony of Delaware (1703). 

Penn's colony was rapidly peopled. Emigrants made their 
way hither in numbers; a city was marked out on the Schuyl- 
kill and named Philadelphia, the city of brotherly 
thTcoiony " love. Many Germans came and settled in the 
neighborhood, and soon afterwards other national- 
ities also, among them Scotch-Irish, many of whom pushed 
back to the frontier and formed a strong element in the 
western part of the province.^ Within twenty years from 
the settlement of Philadelphia, says a writer of the time, 
it contained many stately houses and "several fine squares and 

^ The Scotch-Irish in later years, descendants of these men or new set- 
tlers, drifted down the valleys of the Appalachians, which run in long lines 
toward the southwest, and became settlers in the western parts of the 
southern colonies. 



THE MIDDLE COLONIES— 1614-1700 85 

courts"; between the principal towns the "watermen con- 
stantly ply their wherries" and "there are no beggars to be seen, 
nor, indeed, have any the least temptation to take up that scan- 

The FRAME of tlie 

GOVERNMENT 

OF THE 

^<!ol)(nte of ^eimftttmrfa 



IN 



A M E R I C A = 

Together with cenain 

LAWS 

Agreed upon in England 

BY THE 

GOVERNOUR 

AND 

Dl^'ers F R E E - M E N of the aforefaid 
PROVINCE. 

Tobc further E-xpIaincd and Confirmed there by the firll 

Trovincial Cnumilznd (general J/femblj thu (hall 

be held, if th>:y fee meet. 

Printed in the Year M DC LXXXII. ^ 

^ Title-page of the Frame of Government. It provided for a council 
and an assembly, to be elected by the freemen, and one third of the mem- 
bers of the council to retire annually. Committees were also provided for. 
It was soon changed in part; but these provisions are noteworthy. 



86 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

dalous life". Untroubled by Indian forays and attacks, and 
unvexed by fear of the French as were the men of the North- 
east, Pennsylvania grew, and the settlements were, little by 
little, pushed backward into the wilderness.^ The generous 
policy of religious toleration, thoroughly in keeping with the 
religion of the Friends, drew many a man from Europe to the 
free air of Pennsylvania; and under the spirit of Quaker sim- 
plicity, which bespoke the equality of men, the colony waxed 
strong.^ 

References 

Thwaites, The Colonies, pp. 207-217; Fisher, The Colonial Era, 
pp. 199-206; Lodge, ^Aor/ History, ^i^i. 205-226; Winsor, Narrative 
and Critical History, Volume III, Chapter XII; Bancroft, History, 
Volume I, pp. 528-573, Volume II, pp. 62-75; Stoughton, William 
Penn, The Founder of Pennsylvania; Fiske, Dutch and Quaker Colo- 
nies, Volume II, Chapters XII, XVI, XVII; Andrews, Colonial Self- 
government, Chapters XI-XII; Channing, History of the United 
States, Volume II, Chapter IV; Sharpless, A Quaker Experiment in 
Government. 

' Of course, as we shall see later, the French and Indians in the middle 

of the eighteenth century became a serious menace in the Alleghany region 
in the western part of the colony; but for years after the settlement there 
was no trouble. The absence of the Indian menace was partly due, probably, 
to the wise teachings of Penn and his early efforts at friendliness. But the 
situation of Pennsylvania was different from that of the northern colonies 
and even of Virginia; and we should be wrong if we thought that the stern 
New Englander or the New York settlers were peculiarly harsh in their 
treatment of the red man. 

2 Penn was for a time (1692-94) deprived of his province by the author- 
ities in England, but it was returned to him again. 



CHAPTER V 

THE COLONIES IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 

At the beginning of the eighteenth century the English 

dominion stretched from east of the Kennebec to the Savannah; 

its western border was the Allegheny range. As 

aims o ^ ^^ adventurous pioneer had dared to make a 

three nations. •' '^^ 

settlement in the great valley beyond the moun- 
tains. On the northeast the claims of England extended 
into the territory which France asserted was hers, and on 
the south Spain claimed title to all the territory at least as 
far north as the Savannah, while the English claimed south- 
ward to the St. John's. We shall see how the English estab- 
lished a colony in the region south of the Savannah (1733), and 
how through the efforts of Oglethorpe the land was held for Eng- 
land. By the middle of the century Spain's possessions in the 
eastern part of North America were confined to Florida alone. 
With France, however, England had still to wage a mighty 
struggle. Until near the beginning of the eighteenth century 

there had been no good reason for conflict between 
EiTg^and^^ the two nations, for the continent was large enough 

for the settlements of both countries, and the colo- 
nists of the one did not come into contact with those of the 
other. But, as the years went by, the rivalry grew more and 
more intensely bitter, and all questions of colonial policy and 
growth were more or less influenced by this international jeal- 
ousy and hatred. War succeeded war, and in the intervals of 
peace each nation narrowly watched the other. These wars 
were partly caused by religious differences and by the political 
problems of Europe; but they were caused also by the fact that 
both the nations were seeking to secure great possessions in 
America. France and England were natural rivals because of 
their colonial ambitions. 

87 



88 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

From whatever point of view one studies the colonial his- 
tory of the eighteenth century it must needs have these inter- 
colonial wars and this intercolonial rivalry as a 
intercoiomai background. We must remember that New Eng- 
land grew and prospered and reached out for more 
territory to be filled with thriving towns, while the French and 
their Indian allies were lurking on her borders and watching 
her progress with malice in their hearts. We must remember 
that in some of the colonies disputes arose between the gov- 
ernor and the popular assembly over the question of supply or 
preparation for war, and that each dispute gave to the colo- 
nists practice in declaring their rights and privileges. We must 
remember, too, that the colonies felt their dependence on Eng- 
land, because of the presence of an enemy on their frontier. 

During the first half of the century the political history of 
each colony is very similar to that of every other. It is a story 
of petty quarrels between the assembly and the 
Political governor, of incessant disputes over some matter 

these years. apparently trivial, but yet involving, as the colonists 
thought, some question of principle or some real sub- 
stantial right. The hapless governor was often between two 
fires. ^ On the one side were the stubborn colonists absolutely re- 
fusing concession and demanding new privileges ; on the other side 
he had clear instructions from the proprietors or royal authority 
directing him not to grant what the colonists wished. But 
these quarrels and disputes were evidences of a persistent spirit 
of self-government. For these contests did not consist of vio- 
lent uprisings; they were mere wordy disputes carried on with 
the formalities of legal language and with the studied decorum 
of debate. 

It is important to notice that the development of the Amer- 
ican colonists through this period followed the lines already 
^ „ , ^. marked out by the progress of the mother country. 

Self -taxation. •' , r , i • i i • 

The assembly or lower house of the colonial legis- 
lature strove to obtain full control over the purse. When 

^Connecticut and Rhode Island elected their own governor, and he 
was of course not a representative of a power outside. 



COLONIES IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 89 

this hold was secured, or nearly so, it demanded redress of 
grievances and new privileges on pain of a refusal of supply. 
It said to the governor, "Cease this or that practice, or else we 
will cease to pay your salary". Thus the right of self -taxation 
became the basis of many other rights, and was looked upon by 
the colonists as the most fundamental of them all. Edmund 
Burke, the great English orator and statesman, in his Speech 
on Conciliation with America, one of the most remarkable 
speeches ever delivered, thus speaks of this love of the colonists 
for the principle of self -taxation, a principle which the experi- 
ences of the whole eighteenth century strongly confirmed: "The 
people of the colonies are descendants of Englishmen. . . . The 
colonies draw from you, as with their life blood, these ideas and 
principles. Their love of liberty, as with you, is fixed and at- 
tached on this specific point of taxing. Liberty might be safe 
or might be endangered in twenty other particulars without 
their being much pleased or alarmed. Here they felt its pulse; 
and as they found that beat, they thought themselves sick or 
sound". ^ 

So this first half of the eighteenth century passed away, 
uneventfully on the whole — illustrating the truth of the old 
saying, "Blessed is the country that has no annals". On the 
north and west the borders were time and again beset by wander- 
ing parties of French and Indians. The outbreak 
process ° *-*^ actual war caused some excitement, and brought 

almost surely a dispute with some ambitious gov- 
ernor over increased supply or new authority. But the signs 
of the times are a steady development in the arts and practices 
of self-government, a slow but sure advancement in industrial 
prosperity, a quiet and sober progress toward a self-sufficient 
and independent life. 

^ In Pennsylvania, for instance, there was a contest about money mat- 
ters and the right to tax the proprietor's lands, even when the Indians and 
the French on the frontier threatened the very life of the colony. When 
the governor pleaded, they would not yield, quietly remarking that " they 
had rather the French should conquer them than give up their privileges". 
"Truly", wrote the Governor of Virginia, "I think they have given their 
senses a long holiday". 



90 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

When we have recounted the wars with France and the 
perils of the frontier, traced the growth of the people in indus- 
trial strength, watched the occasional efifort of 
th*"entur'*^ " royal govcmor or proprietary official to get some 
contribution the people did not want to surren- 
der, noted the fitful attempts on the part of the English Board 
of Trade, which had an oversight over the colonies, to bring 
about what it considered order and system, we have con- 
sidered the main events of the half-century. In Massachu- 
setts for years there was a struggle over the question whether 
the governor should be given a permanent salary or only 
get what the legislature granted him each year. Connecticut 
and Rhode Island were long stirred up over the prospect 
of losing their beloved charters and of being brought directly 
under the crown. New York, perhaps more than other colonies, 
was vexed and harried at times by rapacious governors.^ Penn- 
sylvania, free from every serious interference by the proprie- 
tors, was engaged in party disputes, not unlike the heated party 
discussions of the nineteenth century. 

^ Prominent among the royal governors of New York was one Cosby 
(1732-36), a money getter, a boisterous, irritable fellow, tactless and devoid 
of both decorum and virtue. A man named Zenger published in his paper 
some criticisms of the governor, declaring that the people of New York 
"think that slavery is likely to be entailed upon them and their posterity 
if some things be not amended". Thereupon the paper was ordered burned 
and Zenger was cast into prison and brought to trial for criminal libel. 
The lawyer who defended him admitted that the articles in question had 
been published but asserted that they were true and not false or scandal- 
ous. "A free people", said the bold lawyer, Andrew Hamilton, "are not 
obliged by any law to support a governor who goes about to destroy a prov- 
ince". He pointed to the abuses of the executive power, and warned the 
jury that it was "not the cause of a poor printer alone, nor of New York 
alone. No! It may in its consequences affect every freeman that lives 
under a British government on the main of America". He called upon them 
to protect the liberty "to which Nature and the laws of our country have 
given us a right, the liberty both of exposing and opposing arbitrary power 
in these parts of the world, at least, by speaking and writing the truth". 
Zenger was acquitted, and Hamilton, who was a Pennsylvanian, was given 
the freedom of the city in a gold snuff box. These were pretty evident 
straws to show which way the wind was blowing in New York. 



COLONIES IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 91 

Maryland, entering year by year into one contest or another 
with the proprietor or his governor, won, little by little, greater 
power for its assembly.^ Virginia, in the hands of the big 
planters under a royal governor, practiced in considerable de- 
gree the principle of self-government, and, as the plantations 
were spreading far and near over the land, prepared for the day 
when the leaders should play a conspicuous role in winning 
independence and setting up new institutions. North Caro- 
lina and South Carolina, thrusting aside proprietary govern- 
ment altogether, became royal colonies (1729).^ In the region 
far to the south a new colony was established, Georgia. And 

^ Maryland was not the only proprietary colony, but only Pennsylvania 
in addition lived through as a proprietary colony until the Revolution, and 
Pennsylvania started with so much power in the settlers' hands that it does 
not illustrate so well as Maryland the influence of American life. It is inter- 
esting to see Maryland gradually throwing off the wrappings of the old- 
fashioned feudal order, which Baltimore's charter contemplated, and becom- 
ing a colony competent and strong, and full of the principles of American 
life. 

^ South Carolina had grown quickly into a staid community. Charles- 
town was already a thriving little place, the home of the planters of the 
interior, who often left their plantations to be cultivated by slaves while 
they enjoyed the pleasures of town life. They were men of force and abil- 
ity, many of them educated gentlemen, and they felt quite competent to 
manage their own affairs without great deference to the proprietors. Such 
a condition of affairs could bring but one result. The people formed "an 
association to stand by their rights and privileges", and the popular assem- 
bly took the reins into its own hands and refused to be ruled longer by a 
set of non-resident proprietors. This practical revolution (1719) was not 
made a legal fact until ten years after the first revolt. Then the proprie- 
tors gave up their charter, and South Carolina became a royal colony. 

North Carolina did not throw off the proprietary yoke when her south- 
ern neighbor rebelled, but she too became a royal colony in 1729. Her pop- 
ulation grew rapidly, but the people were not so progressive as those of 
either Virginia or South Carolina. Without convenient harbors, the people 
had little or no communication with the outside world, even the tobacco 
crop being carried to Virginia for transportation abroad. For this and 
other reasons life was primitive and simple; printing was not introduced 
until about the middle of the century, and schools were almost unknown. 
Among such a people we ought not to expect a great knowledge of the art 
of politics; yet here too the colonists showed some capacity for managing 
their own affairs, and were growing steadily into an appreciation of the 
problems and principles of self-government. 



92 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

thus year by year and decade by decade, England's dominion 
in the New World grew strong, filling up with a self-reliant peo- 
ple, who, though often charged with aiming at independence or 
at wilful neglect of England's rights of management and con- 
trol, were loyal to the mother country if impatient of dictation 
or interference. 

Two marked features of the time should be added to this 
broad picture, (i) Around the royal governor or the represen- 
tative of the proprietor there was likely to be 
TwomMked ^ ^^2,53 of favorites loving social distinction, bask- 
ing in the presence of the high ofhcials and 
putting on English airs. Most of them were harmless, prob- 
ably, but the whole situation often unpleasantly reminded 
the simpler American of a superior power across the sea or 
made him impatient of the existing conditions. (2) While the 
colonies near the sea were settling down into old established 
communities, the movement into the back country went stead- 
ily on. Primitive America was showing itself over and over 
again on the frontier, where there were no royal favorites and 
where class distinctions were unknown. This movement, grad- 
ual and persistent, into the western parts of the older settle- 
ments, into the backwoods, went on everywhere, but possibly 
of chief interest is the filling up of the upland country of the 
South, into which many people found their way by wandering 
down the long, wide valleys or troughs of the Appalachians, 
whence, before the end of the eighteenth century, men passed 
into the forests of the great Mississippi valley. 

The difference between the men of the older sections and 
the new settlers of the back-country was in all the colonies 
more or less evident; but in the South the contrast 
'^J'®^*®* *°* was especially plain. In Virginia and South Carolina 
were two strongly contrasted societies : — on the 
tide-water rivers a race of planters dressing richly, owning large 
estates, riding in coaches, and living in a sort of baronial style; in 
the farther upland, hardy settlers clearing the land, building log 
houses, planting corn or little patches of tobacco in the wilder- 
ness; and, still farther on, the bold frontiersman, the vanguard. 



COLONIES IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 



93 



the leaders of the slow but steady movement toward the set- 
ting sun. There is little resemblance in life and habits between 




Colonial Governments Distinguished 

the wealthy planter and the man of the back country. The 
planter is waited upon by slaves; the frontiersman must defend 
himself and earn his own hard livelihood. Yet both are Amer- 



94 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

icans and both are devoted to liberty. The planter, accustomed 
to rule others as well as himself, will not brook restraint. The 
pioneer breathes in freedom with every draught of mountain air. 

GEORGIA — 1732-1765 

We must give a word or two to the settlement of Georgia, 
though the colony, settled late, did not loom large in the colo- 
nial affairs of the eighteenth century. Spain held Florida but 
had done little or nothing in the way of settlement, contenting 
herself with watching England's growth with jealous eyes and 
continuing to claim the land as her own far north of her actual 
possessions. Sixty years after the settlement of South Carolina 
there was no English settlement south of the Savannah. In 
this region, James Oglethorpe, a member of the English parlia- 
ment, "a gentleman of unblemished character, brave, generous, 
and humane", proposed to establish a colony... He saw the 
desirability of founding a settlement in the country south of 
the Carolinas ^ and holding it for England. At this time in 
England persons were imprisoned for a debt and hanged for 
a petty theft. Each year, we are told, at least four thousand 
unhappy men were shut up in prison because of the misfortune 
of poverty. The jails were wretched, woe-begone places, scenes 
of misery and often of horror. Oglethorpe proposed to carry 
away these luckless captives to America, and there to found a 
colony where they might have a chance to get ahead in the 
world. Oglethorpe and several other persons were constituted 
" trustees for the establishing the colony of Georgia in America ". 
The king granted them a charter and vested them with com- 
plete power. 

Oglethorpe was chosen to lead the expedition, and set sail 

for America with a number of colonists in the latter part of 1732. 

In February of the next year he founded Savan- 

founded°°^ nah. Other settlers soon follov/ed, among them a 

number of German Protestants, who had been 

persecuted at home for their religion. These people were 

^ England had established weak military outposts there, but there was 
no settlement. 



COLONIES IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 95 

thrifty and industrious, and did much for the colony. But the 
shiftless debtors that were brought over do not seem to have 
learned how to work. A few years later still other emigrants 
arrived, among them Moravians and Lutherans from Germany. 
Georgia developed slowly. The rule of Oglethorpe was just, 
but as the time went on the regulations of the trustees became 
very obnoxious to the settlers. In 1752 the trus- 

onhTlolony. ^^^^ ^^^^ ^P ^^^^^ charter to the Crown, and 
Georgia became a royal colony. A legislature was 
established, and in administration and political form Georgia 
became similar to the other colonies. From this time on the 
colony grew more rapidly, and acquired stability and strength; 
but when the troubles with England began, and America was 
drawn into war against the mother country, Georgia was still a 
backward -^fOidiiGe ; its people had had little practice in self- 
government, and, as we might expect, played no very conspic- 
uous part in the struggle for political and civil liberty. 

Everywhere throughout America in the eighteenth century 
there developed the spirit of liberty and capacity for self-gov- 
ernment. The colonies waxed powerful and rich, 
Material pros- losing all the appearance of struggling frontier 
racy. settlements. Great plantations covered the low- 

land country of the South; farms and simple 
homesteads were made here and there in the northern region; 
Yankee fishermen dared the perils of the ocean in their trim 
little vessels; merchants and traders gathered in the larger 
towns and cities of the middle colonies and New England; and 
ever and always the hardy frontiersman was pushing the fron- 
tier on into the wilderness and back to the mountains. And 
with this growth there came a strong sense of popular rights, the 
feeling of manly independence, which was the firm foundation of 
the coming democracy. 

References 

Short accounts: Thwaites, The Colonies, Chapter XIV; Fisher, 
The Colonial Era, Part II ; Bancroft, History. Volume II, pp. 3-85, 
238-280; Lodge, Short History, passim. 



96 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



Longer Accounts: Greene, Provincial America (use index); 
Channing, History of the United States, Volume II. 

For Georgia. — Short accounts: Thwaites, TheColonies, pp. 258, 
263; Fisher, The Colonial Era, pp. 303-313. An interesting account 
of Oglethorpe is ta be found in Bruce, James Edward Oglethorpe 
(notice especially Chapters III, IV, and VIII). Bancroft, History, 
Volume II, pp. 280-299. 




View of Christ Church, Boston, 

On the spire of which Paul Revere hung lanterns to announce the arrival of 
the British troops 



CHAPTER VI 
FRANCE AND ENGLAND — 1608-1763 

Soon after the accession of William III to the throne of 

England war was begun with France. This was in 1689, and 

for the next one hundred and twenty-five years 

econd un re ^j^ ^^ Countries were in continual enmity, often 

years' war. _ _ -^ ' 

in open war. This long struggle has been named 
not inaptly the "second hundred years' war".^ The nations 
were natural rivals. They differed in their ambitions in Euro- 
pean politics; each had hopes of wide dominion in America, 
and their claims conflicted. From our point of view these con- 
tests mean but this: they were to decide which nation was 
the more vigorous, virile and sound, which nation was so 
made up in its moral and physical fiber and in its political talent 
that it would succeed in securing America to itself. The prize 
was, above all, that great central valley of our country — a noble 
prize indeed, as fertile a space for its size as the globe shows, 
capable of sustaining two hundred million inhabitants, trav- 
ersed by mighty rivers, free from impassable mountain chains, 
a place which Nature seems to have fashioned as the home of a 
single people. And so in the history of the world these wars 
mean much; they were not petty squabbles between kings and 
princes, but the struggles of nations for empire. Before the 
hundred years were gone, a great portion of the prize had fallen' 
to England and a part again had been wrested from her by her 
rebellious colonies; and yet from the accession of William III 
to the downfall of Napoleon the enmity of the two great nations 
may be said to have sprung from their colonial ambitions. 

1 Seeley, Expansion of England, Lecture II. Seeley's positions are 
somewhat extreme, but the book is profoundly interesting and suggestive. 

97 



98 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

Let us trace out the early expansion of French power in 

America. We have seen that early in the sixteenth century 

explorers from France sailed along the coast and 

France ready ^j^^^ efforts Were made to settle on the banks of 

for colonization. 

the St. Lawrence. But the efforts of these years 
only prepared the way for the successes of the next century; 
not till the early part of the seventeenth century was France 
ready to take up great plans of colonization. 

The first dauntless leader was Samuel de Champlain. He 

explored the coast of New England, and finally (1608) founded 

Quebec. Thus the French acquired a permanent 

Champlam. ,.,. ^ t • • • e 

abidmg place at the north in a position 01 great 
military strength, on the river that afforded a highway to the 
Great Lakes and to the great valley beyond. Champlain con- 
tinued his discoveries to the south and west. He discovered 
the lake which bears his name in 1609, and later made his way 
westward as far as Lake Huron. Until his death, in 1635, he 
labored ceaselessly in exploration and was the moving spirit in 
colonial enterprise. 

But Champlain made one grievous blunder, which in time 
brought woe to French colonists. In 1609, in company with a 
war party of Algonquin Indians, he made his way southward 
His expedition from Quebcc, and on the banks of the lake which 
against the now bears his name attacked and routed a band 
Iroquois. ^j Iroquois. A similar expedition a few years 

later was not so successful, and the only result of espousing the 
cause of the Algonquins against their ancient foe was to make 
the warriors of the Five Nations the inveterate enemies of the 
French. 

The Iroquois were a powerful and capable race. All the 
tribes of the North and East stood in dread of them. As far 

west as the Mississippi, as far east as Maine, as 
^. ^^ far south as the Carolinas, they were known and 

nations. , ' -' 

feared. They are said to have called Lake Cham- 
plain the gateway of the country. Such it may be said to be 
to-day. It forms with the Hudson a line of communication with 
the Atlantic; it is the road to Canada from the south. Hence 



FRANCE AND ENGLAND— 1608-1763 



99 



in all wars between the nation that possesses Canada and that 
which holds the Atlantic coast this valley must be a place of 
great strategic importance. The Iroquois seem to have felt 
the strength of their position. 




Results of 
Iroquois enmity 



Defeat of the Iroquois. From Champlain's Voyages, 1613 

These people were now made by Champlain's action the 
enduring enemies of the French. "For over a century the Iro- 
quois found no pastime equal to rendering life in 
Canada miserable". The Dutch of New York, 
more fortunate, made friends with these tribes 
and when the Dutch were supplanted by the English they, too, 
for some years held the Iroquois as allies. Thus the settlements 
of the middle Atlantic coast were, in their earlier years, pro- 
tected from French attack by this living barrier, the Iroquois 
—a barrier impassable by French war parties. Moreover, part- 
ly because of the Iroquois, the French made their explorations 
into the west and northwest rather than to the south and south- 
west. Lake Superior was known before Lake Erie, and the 
Mississippi had been traversed before the waters of the Ohio 
were known. In consequence, for a long time the French and 
English settlements diverged, the French occupying positions 
on the Great Lakes and the rivers of the far West long before 
8 



100 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



they dared to come near the English by occupying places imme- 
diately beyond the mountains. The great and concluding strug- 
gle between France and England did not come till, under dif- 
ferent conditions, the authorities of Canada tried to take and 
hold the strategic points in the eastern portion of the Ohio 
Valley. 

The seventeenth century is a picturesque period in the his- 
tory of Canada. Bold adventurers and soldiers, brave and 
patient priests, hardy fur traders and restless rov- 
ers, all did their part in exploring the great West, 
carrying the lilies of France, the cross of the church, 
or the brandy and gewgaws of the merchant into the remote 
solitudes of the interior. As early as 1634 Jean Nicollet was in 



Early French 
explorers. 







The Joliet map here given is "probably the earliest map to define the course 
of the Mississippi by actual observation, although Joliet connected it with 
the Gulf merely by an inference". Confer Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac, 
p. 247. The above is a simplified sketch of the original 

Wisconsin and Illinois. A few years later Jesuit priests preached 
their faith before two thousand naked savages at the falls of 
Ste. Marie. Soon after this Allouez began a mission in this 
same region, and for thirty years he passed from tribe to tribe in 
that far-off wilderness, preaching and exhorting and striving 



FRANCE AND ENGLAND— 1608-1763 lOi 

to implant his faith. Marquette gathered the Indians about 
him at Sault Ste. Marie, and passed even to the farther end of 
Lake Superior, seeking to win souls for the Church. St. Lusson 
(167 1), at the Sault, with solemn ceremony before a motley 
concourse of braves, proclaimed the sovereign title of the great 
monarch of France to all the surrounding lands, "in all their 
length and breadth, bounded on the one side by the seas of the 
North and West, and on the other by the South Sea". In 1673 
Joliet and Marquette paddled up the Fox River in their birch 
canoes, floated down the Wisconsin, and came out on the broad 
waters of the Mississippi. Descending even beyond the Mis- 
souri, they returned by way of the Illinois and the Chicago 
portage. But most conspicuous among these bold explorers is 
Robert Cavalier de la Salle, a marvel of a man, resolute, brave, 
inflexible of purpose. Danger, disappointment, hardships, 
treachery, beset him, but he overcame them all and effected 
his object. In the year 1682 his little flotilla of canoes floated 
down the Mississippi to its mouth, and La Salle took possession 
of the vast valley in the name of Louis XIV. 

Thus the dauntless French explorers had traversed the great 
West, while the English settlements nestled close to the Atlan- 
tic seaboard, almost within sound of the surf. 
France possessed the two great gateways and 
highways to the interior of the continent.^ And thus New 
France was founded with its two heads, as Parkman has 
said, one in the canebrakes of Louisiana and the other in the 
snows of Canada. The first settlement in Louisiana was in 
1699, and New Orleans was founded in 17 18. By this time 
little groups of Frenchmen had settled down upon the banks of 
the Western rivers. Here and there a fort was built. Detroit 



1 It should be noticed that the English were hemmed in between the 
mountains and the sea. While the mountains acted as a barrier to the 
extension of the English colonies, they also served to protect the settlers 
from attack. Doubtless the chief reason why the English did not extend 
their settlements at an early day into the far West was the fact that they 
were chiefly interested in industrial and commercial life, in clearing farms, 
in founding towns, and in building ships. 



102 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



English 
colonization 



was founded by Cadillac 1701. Even thus early throughout 
the West the points of military advantage were chosen. 

The methods of French colonization form 
a sharp contrast to those of the English. 
The Englishman came to the 
New World for himself — to find 
a home, perchance to escape 
religious persecution, or to follow the light 
of his own conscience, expecting by hard 
and honest toil to work his way to comfort. 
He was uncared for by the mother country, 
and his colony flourished in neglect. Occa- 
sionally a meddlesome governor awakened 
his resentment, but, as a rule, he governed 
himself as he chose. He and his fellows 
founded villages and cities and established a 
lucrative commerce. They built school - 
houses and churches, and gradually worked 
their way back from the sea as the popu- 
lation increased and new needs arose. They 
were not always harsh and unjust to the 
Indians; but on the whole their career was 
one of conquest. Little by little the redman 
retreated as the settler's axe sounded in the forest; little by lit- 
tle the pioneers built their cabins in the untamed wilderness 
and turned up the hunting ground with their plowshares. 

The French were not so. Their earliest pioneers were priests 
striving with marvelous heroism to win heathen to the church, 
or adventurous soldiers who sought honors and 
empire for the monarch of France. The settle- 
ments along the St. Lawrence were strictly ruled 
by edict and royal order. They knew nothing of self-govern- 
ment or of self- taxation. The colony was not neglected, but 
cared for by the home Government. There was no chance for 
the development of men, for practice in politics, for self-reliance. 

On the other hand, as a contrast to this iron rule were other 
influences in Canada. The fur trade charmed away from the 



^ ,KaN da NX!" V. V W 
.ND/^l). r . ,. CEN EHXi. 

IJ3,VC,5., Vj-L-lACES 
'v:;.J^^JO^^iV "EN TCP-RE 






Part of a Leaden 
Plate 

The French buried 
these plates at the 
river mouths that 
they discovered to 
mark their claim to 
all the land drained 
by the rivers 



contrasted with 
French. 



FRANCE AND ENGLAND— 1608-1763 



103 



settlements many restless fellows, who, breaking over the re- 
strictions of the home Government, which tried from the offices 
of Paris to control the details of the fur hunting 
of America, wandered off into the West and en- 
gaged in the lucrative trade. A picturesque element were 
these rollicking boatmen and rangers of the wood, threading 



The fur trade. 




Reproduced from La Hontan's Voyages, i 703 

the rivers of the western wilderness, bartering for furs with 
the redman, or making little settlements in the interior along 
the rivers that flow into the Lakes, and even beside those that 
find their way southward to the Gulf. Thus the contrast be- 
tween the English and French colonists was strong, and the 
result of seventy years of war would show which nation had 
the sounder and better colonial system and the greater in- 
herent strength. 

Three times between the Revolution of 1688 and the mid- 
dle of the next century, France and England were at war; three 
times the English colonists took up arms in hopes of driving 
the Frenchmen from American soil, and three times they failed.^ 



1 In Europe the war from 1689-97, called in the colonies King Wil- 
liam's War; the second, the war of the Spanish succession, called in America 



104 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

But English settlers were steadily pushing backward from the 
sea, and English fur traders had no intention of being shut off 
from the Mississippi Valley. A great contest must come to 
decide the control of the West. 

It was clear that, in spite of their great strength, the Eng- 
lish colonies were in danger because they did not act together. 

It was suggested that a congress or conference be 
congresst"f754. ^^^^' made up of commissioners from the various 

assemblies. The chief object was a joint treaty 
with the Iroquois. Such a congress met at Albany. Represen- 
tatives were present from seven colonies. It had no immediate 
result, though the example was of importance in succeeding 
years. Benjamin Franklin, a member of the congress, drew up 
and presented a plan of union which provided for the formation 
of a grand council of forty-eight members selected from the 
colonies, and a president-general appointed by the Crown. 

This plan was not acceptable to the colonial assem- 
piTn '"^ ^ blies, nor did it meet with favor in England. The 

Lords of Trade had already prepared a plan of their 
own but anything like a union of the colonies for more than 
defensive purposes seems to have been looked upon with 
suspicion in the mother country, possibly with dread. '^ 

Meanwhile France had been strengthening her position and 
creeping nearer to her enemies on their western frontier. A 
French position at Niagara was taken and fortified, and 

**"*^- forts were built on the head waters of the Ohio. 

Thus the French were well on their way to hem in the English 
east of the mountains and to shut them out of the Ohio Val- 
ley.^ 

Queen Anne's War, 1702-13; the third, the war of the Austrian Succession, 
called in America King George's War, 1744-48. 

^ Before this time there had been various proposals for union. An 
early plan came from the great Penn, and was called "A Briefe and Plaine 
Scheame how the English Colonies in the North part of x\merica . . . may 
be made more useful to the crown and one another's peace and safety with 
an universall concurrence". 

^ See map opposite. France had good ground for claiming the Texas 
country, perhaps even to the Rio Grande. 



FRANCE AND ENGLAND— 1608-1763 



105 



Washington 
meets the 
French. 

ter, found 
nango, and 



Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia was watchful of the French 

advances and decided to send a remonstrance. He chose 
as his messenger George Washington, a young 
man holding the position of adjutant-general 
of the Virginia militia. Washington, making a 
long, perilous journey at the beginning of win- 
the French at Fort Le Boeuf as well as Ve- 
warned them that they must not encroach on 

British dominion.^ The 

French, of course, refused 

to heed such warnings, 

and the next year took a 

further step in advance 

by building Fort Du- 

quesne ^ at the forks of 

the Ohio, where Pittsburg 

now stands. This was the 

signal for war. Washing- 
ton with a few troops 

marched against the en- 
emy, but was defeated 

and obliged to give up the 

undertaking. Thus all 

English efforts to occupy 

these strategic positions The French and Indian War 

were frustrated. "Not Showing the field of the western campaigns 

an English flag now waved beyond the Alleghanies". 

The next year the English set vigorously to work. General 

Braddock was sent to America to command the forces and to 
dislodge the French in the West. A courageous 
soldier, and one who might, as Franklin said, have 
made a good figure in some European war, he was 

unfit for the task assigned him. In the summer of 1755 he led 




Braddock's 
defeat, 1755 



^ See Parkman's Montcalm and Wolfe, vol. i, pp. 131 ff., for Washington's 
expedition. 

- The English had actually begun the works, but were obliged to yield 
to the French. 



106 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

an expedition against Fort Duquesne, and the result was dis- 
aster. The army was attacked by the French and their Indian 
alHes; Braddock was slain, and his whole force routed. Thus 
ended the first battle in the great valley between the contest- 
ants for its possession. England was woefully 
the yea7^° ^ " beaten. Attacks upon Niagara and Crown Point 
were likewise unsuccessful, although a victory was 
won by the English at Lake George. 

While this fighting was going on in America there was still 
a nominal peace in Europe. In 1756 war was formally declared 
between France and England.^ This was the be- 
Yearf'^wrr ginning of the Seven Years' War. The contest 
was not limited to two combatants. It involved 
nearly the whole continent. England was allied with Frederick 
the Great of Prussia, and against them were arrayed Russia, 

Sweden, Saxony, Austria, and France. Frederick, 
Prussia. , ' , "^ ' , 1 , r • • 

almost completely surrounded by toes superior in 

power if not in valor, fought with desperation and with consum- 
mate skill and bravery. His support from England was for a 
long time weak and ineffective, for the English Government 
was corrupt and feeble." Walpole's belief that every man had 
his price had become the corner stone of cabinets; governments 
were founded on bribery. And yet, though there were many 

signs of vulgarity in society and dishonesty in 
Fwnce ^^ government, the heart, of England was sound, and 

in the contest the nation was at length able 
to show powers that France, with all her silken nobility, could 
not equal.^ 

1 The Seven Years' War of Europe (i756-'63) was the French and 
• Indian War of America. There was actually war here after 1754. 

- The ignorance or stupidity of English ministers in some of their deal- 
ings with America is illustrated by the tale about Newcastle, for a time at 
the head of the English government. When he was told that Annapolis, 
Nova Scotia, must be defended he exclaimed, "Annapolis, Annapolis! Oh, 
yes, Annapolis must be defended; to be sure, Annapolis should be defended 
— where is Annapolis?" 

* Valuable and entertaining accounts of the condition of the combat- 
ants in Parkman's Montcalm and Wolfe, vol. i, chap, i, and vol. ii, chap, 
xviii; Sloane's The French War and the Revolution, chaps, i, ii, and iii. 



FRANCE AND ENGLAND— 1608-1763 



107 



Strength of 
Canada. 



The French in America did not exceed eighty thousand in 
number, but they had a certain military advantage in a war 
with a self-governing people; for the French 
could strike, while the governors of English col- 
onies were wrestling with obstinate assemblies and 
begging for money and munitions of war. There were only 
two ways in which to reach the real center of Canada: one was 
by way of Lake Champlain, where the French were strongly 
posted; the other was by way of the St. Lawrence, and there 




The French and Indian War 
Showing the field of the northern and eastern campaigns 

above its waters frowned the fortifications of Quebec. The 
French were aided by their devoted friends the Algonquin In- 
dians, while the English had no secure hold upon the Iroquois, 
although during the course of the war, because of the exertions 
of Sir William Johnson, they were brought to render the Eng- 
lish cause some service. 

The English colonies, with a population of 1,300,000 white 
people, were supplied with provisions and other sinews of war. 

While it is true that the assemblies were often 
coionT^s °^ '^ obstinate and hesitating, they gave men and money 

liberally, when once the colonies were aroused to 
fight, and they showed a power, a vigor, and an earnestness 
such as could come only from free-thinking, free-acting, and 
freedom-loving people. 



108 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



Marquis de Montcalm, the French general, acted with 
promptness and vigor, and his Indian allies were ceaseless in 
their cruelties.^ The English, on the other hand, 
Campaign of a.t first accomplished little. Loudon and Aber- 
crombie C'Miss Nabbycrombie" the colonists 
called him) came over 
(1756) to America as gen- 
erals, displayed their 
laced coats, and made a 
show of activity; but the 
net result was loss of 
ground on the northern 
frontier.^ 

What would have hap- 
pened if William Pitt 
had not tak- 
en things in 
hand in the English min- 
istry it is hard to say — 
probably more defeats 
for fussy English generals. 
Pitt was a great man, elo- 
quent, far-seeing, cease- 
lessly active, and with 
profound faith in his 
country. He was the idol 
of the common people, 
and in the next four years, 
by his magnificent daring 
and by the fire of his 
word, raised slothful Eng- 



William Pitt. 




The French and Indian War 
Showing the campaign of 1756 and 1757 



1 "Not a week passes but the French send them [the English] a band 
of hairdressers whom they would be very glad to dispense with". (Letter 
of a young French captain to his father, quoted in Montcalm and Wolfe, 
vol. i, p. 380.) 

^ Oswego and Fort William Henry were taken by the French and only 
Fort Edward stood between them and Albany. 



FRANCE AND ENGLAND— 1608-1763 109 

land from humiliation and dismay to a lofty pinnacle of power, 
where she felt her strength only too keenly. "England has at 
last produced a man", said Frederick the Great. Pitt arranged 
for the American war on a liberal scale, and prepared to win. 

In 1758 Fort Frontenac, near the mouth of Lake Ontario, 
and Fort Duquesne were captured by the English. But the 

next campaign brought even greater victories. 
iTssTnd^iTso ^^^ English were now confident, the Canadians 

in despair. Pitt's courage and enthusiasm assured 
success. The plans for the year included the capture of Niag- 
ara, Ticonderoga, and Quebec. Amherst was to take Ticonde- 
roga, and then proceed north to Quebec and there join Wolfe, 
who was to sail up the St. Lawrence and beset the city. The 
plan was partly carried out. Niagara was captured. This place, 
with Fort Duquesne, secured to the English the control of the 
Ohio Valley. Amherst captured Ticonderoga; but he worked 
with such masterly deliberation that cooperation with Wolfe 
was impossible. Wolfe made his way up the great river which 
the French had controlled so long and prepared to attack Quebec. 
The place was the strongest natural fortress in America, and 
was under the command of Montcalm, who was able and brave. 
The whole summer was passed without result. Wolfe tried 
various expedients to entice the enemy into an open fight, for 
to attack their defenses seemed madness. Finally he deter- 
mined upon the bold task of gaining, from the river at a point 
above the city, the high plateau on which the city stood. A 
favoring ravine seemed to offer a footing. On the night of the 
1 2 th of September a body of about thirty-five hundred men 

struggled up the height, and in the morning stood 

upon the Plains of Abraham. Montcalm was sur- 
prised, but accepted the gage of battle. The battle was a brief 
one. The French were repulsed. Montcalm and Wolfe were 
killed. Quebec fell into the hands of the English.^ 

1 Horace Walpole wrote: "What a scene! An army in the night drag- 
ging itself up a precipice by stumps of trees to assault a town and attack 
an enemy strongly intrenched and double in numbers! The king is over- 
whelmed with addresses of our victories; he will have enough to paper his 



110 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

The next year (1760) Montreal was taken. This was prac- 
tically the end of the war in America. Peace was not made in 
Europe until three years later. Let us see the result of the 
great conflict. France ceded to England all her possessions on 
the North American continent east of the Miss- 
war. ° ^ issippi, save New Orleans and a small district ad- 
jacent to the city. New Orleans and all the ter- 
ritory west of the Mississippi, to which France had laid claim, 
passed into the hands of Spain, who gave up Florida to England. 
France was allowed certain privileges in the Newfoundland 
fisheries, two small islands were given her to serve as a shelter 
for her fishermen, and she retained her hold on some of the West 
Indies. To this had her vast dominion in the New World dwin- 
dled. Great Britain was now the great colonial power of the 
world. The little island had become an empire. "This", said 
Earl Granville on his deathbed, "has been the most glorious 
war and the most triumphant peace that England ever knew".^ 
The triumph of Wolfe on the Plains of Abraham, the most 
striking event of this war, is a turning point in modern history. 
It determined that all this vast western region 
in Wstory ^""^ should pass into English hands ; that here English 
ideas of freedom and law, English customs and 
methods of thought, should prevail. In addition to this, the 
acquisition of Canada was of great moment in our history. 
The colonists were freed from the fear of French invasion, 
and stood no longer in constant dread of Indian attacks. 
They could now with some hope of safety push their way 
across the mountains. Moreover, relieved of these anxieties, 
they felt less their dependence on England, although all 
gloried in the name of Englishmen when the mother country 
was thus at the zenith of her power. The war had shown that 

palace". Parkman says: "England blazed with bonfires. In one spot 
alone all was dark and silent'; for here a widowed mother mourned for a 
loving and devoted son, and the people forebore to profane her grief with 
the clamor of their rejoicings". 

1 "Englishmen had permanently girdled the globe with English civili- 
zation and opened boundless avenues to English enterprise". (Sloane, The 
French War and the Revolution, p. 108.) 




-^ I^^'l^C 



FRANCE AND ENGLAND— 1608-1763 111 

provincial troops could fight and that provincial officers were 
not devoid of skill. The blunders of men like Loudon, and the 
domineering conduct of other British officers, left a tinge of 
resentment in the colonial heart. ^ 

References 

Short accounts: Thwaites, pp. 33-49, Chapter XII, 274-284; 
Hart, Formation of the Union, Chapter II; Sloane, The French War 
and the Revolution, Chapters III to IX; Bourinot, The Story of 
Canada, especially Chapters XII, XIII, and XVIII; Hinsdale, The 
Old Northwest, Chapters III to V; Thwaites, France in America; 
Griffis, Sir William Johnson and the Six Nations; Channing, 
History of the United States, Volume I, Chapter IV, Volume II, 
Chapters V, XVIII, XIX. 

The whole subject of this chapter is covered in a series of fasci- 
nating books by Francis Parkman. The reader will find them full 
of interest. The titles are: Pioneers of France in the New World; 
The Jesuits in America; La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West; 
The Old Regime in Canada; Count Frontenac and New France under 
Louis XIV; A Half Century of Conflict; Montcalm and Wolfe; The 
Conspiracy of Pontiac. 

^ " With the triumph of Wolfe on the Heights of Abraham began the 
history of the United States". (Green, History of the English People, 
vol. iv, p. 193.) 



I 



CHAPTER VII 

THE SOCIAL, INDUSTRIAL, AND POLITICAL CONDI-= 
TION OF THE COLONIES IN 1760 

Each of the English colonies that lay along the Atlantic 
coast in the middle of the eighteenth century had its own indi- 
viduality and its own peculiarities. The people 
si^a^ties" ®^ ^"^^ colony kncw little of the inhabitants of the 
others; and one can find very little evidence of 
sympathy and fellow-feeling, or of any realization of a common 
interest and a single destiny. Without sympathy there could 
be no true national life nor any strong sentiment of patriotism, 
and there could not be sympathy without knowledge. In its 
origin and history each colony differed from the others, and the 
course of events up to the outbreak of the French and Indian 
War seemed, at times, rather to strengthen these differences 
than to wear them away.^ Climatic conditions varied greatly: 
the mean yearly temperature of Maine is not far from that of 
southern Norway, while the mean yearly temperature of Geor- 
gia is nearly the same as that of northern Africa. Amid such 
dissimilar surroundings there grew up, as a matter of course, 
distinct methods of social and industrial life. And yet there 
was a strong bond of union binding these groups of men together. 
They had common political ideals, built upon the fundamental 

^ It is necessary to get some idea of the separation of the colonies, in days 
when there was no steamboat, no telegraph, no railroad, when roads were 
few and good ones almost unknown, when "express" riders took days to 
hurry from New England to Philadelphia, or through the long stretches of 
forest between Philadelphia and Charleston, when a clumsy creaky stage 
coach was the only mode of public travel by land. It took commonly about 
six days for passengers to travel between New York and Boston. It some- 
times seems strange — not that it took long to build up national feelings 
but that union was so quickly made and that nationalism was not longer 
delayed. 

112 



CONDITION OF THE COLONIES IN 1760 



113 



principles of English freedom; and although each colony dif- 
fered somewhat from every other, they all differed still more 
widely in spirit and essential character from the countries of 
Europe. 

If one is to understand the history of the United States, he 
must keep in mind this diversity and this inevitable tendency 

to union and harmony. For these differences were 
thircon'diao°n °^ importance not simply while the nation was in 

its infancy (1765-90) or in the days when it was 
first trying its youthful strength. All through our history, sec- 
tional and local peculiarities have had their influence. The 
important fact is this: because 
of these differences, when the 
colonies separated from Great 
Britain, they could not yield 
up all rights of local govern- 
ment to a central government, 
inasmuch as each colony or 
State felt its own individuality. 
On the other hand, the colonies 
were inspired by the same po- 
litical purpose; the ruling spirit 
in all was a spirit of progress; 
they cherished like ideals ; they 
had a common cause, which 
could be realized only through 
union and co-operation. Thus 
it was that the United States 
came to be — having one Gov- 
ernment which represents the common interests of all and 
carries out the purposes of all, and, on the other hand, being 
made up of States or commonwealths, where the people can 




t^ ^ iT-yA^^cCa^rtT^ 



^ Samuel Adams, often called the Man of the Town Meeting and the 
Father of the Revolution, is the best example of an energetic politician and 
statesman of the late colonial period. The original of this picture, painted 
by Copley, hung for a time in Faneuil Hall, Boston, but is now in the Art 
Museum. 



114 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



Three groups. 



regulate their own local concerns and manage their own affairs 
as they choose. 

While it is true that each of the colonies had its own pecu- 
liar life and character, we can easily distinguish three groups of 
colonies: the Southern, middle, and New England 
groups. All of the colonies south of Pennsylvania 
had many characteristics in common. The similarity was due 
in part, to the fact that they were founded on slavery,^ in part to 
the fact that natural conditions favored the plan- 
coio*^erfounded tatio"- There were slaves in all the colonies; 
on slavery. but in the South slavery directly shaped the 
industrial and social life of the 
people. In Virginia, in the middle of 
the eighteenth century, one half of 
the population were slaves. South 
Carolina contained even more negroes 
than white people, and the number 
was rapidly increasing by importa- 
tions from Africa or the West Indies. 
In all the colonies rigorous laws were 
passed to guard against a servile in- 
surrection; but they do not seem to 
have been rigidly enforced, and on 
the whole the slaves were well 
treated. 

The slave did the task assigned 
him, but did not readily change his methods or take up new 
work. Therefore, partly because of slave labor, the industrial 



»■ ■■■■' — ' ■^■ 








: 




I 


* 


■r. 




i 








i 





A House Slave of Wash- 
ington's Day 



' We should notice, too, that even up to the Revolution convicts were 
shipped from England to America and entered into servitude in the colo- 
nies. They seem to have been more abundant south of Mason and Dixon's 
line than at the north. We are told that in Maryland "not a ship arrives, 
with either redemptioners or convicts, in which schoolmasters are not as 
regularly advertised for sale as weavers, tailors, or any other trade". In 
addition to these convicts in servitude were redemptioners, persons who 
bound themselves to service for a short term of years, generally to pay the 
expenses of the voyage to America. Many of them were brought here. 
The redemptioner agreed on taking ship to America that he might be sold 



CONDITION OF THE COLONIES IN 1760 



115 



Slave labor. 




interests of the South were not diverse.^ The great staple prod- 
uct of Maryland and Virginia was tobacco. South Carolina 
raised rice and indigo. All the Southern colonies 
were purely agricultural, and they raised little for 
export, except the great staple products we have just men- 
tioned. There was almost no manufacturing. The com- 
monest articles of house- 
hold use were brought 
from the mother country 
or from the New England 
colonies. 

There were in 1760 
over three quarters of a 
million peo- 
ple living 
south of 
Pennsylvania, and yet 
Charleston and Baltimore 
were the only cities of 
any importance south of 
Philadelphia. Although 
Virginia was the oldest 
colony, and had a popu- 
lation of about five hundred thousand at the end of the colo- 
nial period, there were no cities and only one large place, 
Norfolk, within its borders. The plantations were the units 
of Virginia life, and by studying them we can see the real 
social forces of the colony. 

In Virginia there were natural or physical reasons for the 
absence of towns and the predominance of country life. The 



Plantation life 
in the South. 



FIVE POUNDS REWARD. 
5S A"'^^?1 D ^^ "W'V f'O"^ 'lie fobfcriber, 
IV living in Shepherd's Town, 
fomc time in Oaobcr laf , a Mulatto 
BOY named TOBY, »bout 14 years 
of age, and has a fear on the right fide 
of hij throat— ^^ad on, when he 
^•."'hS^ went away, an old brown jacket, 
tow (hirt •nd check trouferj, which ire fuppofed to 'be 
worn out by this time — Whoever takes up the faid 
Mulatto, and fecures him in any gaol, fo thnt his mat- 
ter may have hiiri »gaiq, fliall receive the above reward, 
from JOHN CLAWSON. 

N, B. AM maflers of vetTels are forwarncd not to 
take him off at their peril. 

In the Ship Nancy, Capt. Burrow, arriv- 
ed at Baiiimoie, a Cargo of 

Coarfe Salt^ 

TO BE SOLD, on REASONABLE TERMS bv 
JOHNSTEVFNSON. 



A Typical 
Advertisement for a Runaway Slave 



into servitude for a term of years to pay the cost of the passage, unless he 
or a friend for him paid the cost to the shipmaster on reaching America. 
Thousands of people were thus brought over and furnished the labor for 
farm and plantation. 

'Of course the plantation system was not primarily due to slavery; it 
was due to climate, soil and crops — to rice, cotton and tobacco. The 
introduction and development of the slave system aided the development 
of the plantation system and helped to maintain it. 
9 



I 



116 fflSTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

rich, fertile soil tempted men to agricultural life. Moreover, 

the branching rivers navigable from the sea served as great 

highways to the interior. Vessels sailed up to the 

Reason for planter's verv door to discharge their cargoes and 

absence of towns * -' . , 

in Virginia. to be loaded With tobacco. Thomas Jefferson said: 
"Our country being much intersected with navi- 
gable waters, and trade brought generally to our doors instead 
of our being obliged to go in quest of it, has probably been one 
of the causes why we have no towns of any consequence".^ 

The large Virginia plantation was a small community almost 

sufficient unto itself. Its center was the large and hospitable 

planter's home, built of wood or brick. Around 

The planter. , . . . . , 110- 1 

this imposing mansion clustered the oinces, and 
not far away was the little village of negro cabins. The plan- 
tation gave food in profusion; other necessities and luxuries 
were brought from England to the planter's wharf in exchange 
for tobacco. Everywhere was a look of lavishness and of open, 
free-handed living in this golden age before the Revolution; 
and the picture of it all is pleasant on the whole — the planter 
driving his heavy four-wheeled coach over the dreadful roads, 
or riding his horse along a bridle path to the county court 
house or neighbor's mansion, or caring for his big plantation 
and the big band of black retainers, or offering hospitality to 
friend or stranger at the board which groaned with products 
of the plantation and the forest. Many a planter living in pro- 
fusion was in debt to an English merchant; his mansion house, 
with its show of elegance, was out of repair; ^ and his plantation 

1 Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XII. We can understand a 
good deal of "Jeffersonian simplicity" of later days, when we remember 
that Jefferson, like many another of his class, had almost reached man's 
estate before he had seen more than a dozen or two houses together. It 
must have been a great experience for him when, still a young man, he 
went to Philadelphia, which had already put on something lil^e city airs; 
and how he must have been interested in Paris when he went there at a 
later time and saw the splendors and the squalor of the city and the pomp 
of the King of France. 

^ "The Virginians", said a traveler, "are not generally rich, especially 
in net revenue. There one often finds a well-served table covered with 
silver in a room where for ten years half the window panes have been miss- 



CONDITION OF THE COLONIES IN 1760 117 

gave other evidences of wastefulness and loose business methods. 
And yet we should much mistake, if we should suppose that 
Virginia was made up of rollicking planters, fond only of the 
congenial employment of watching other people work ; men like 
Washington and Mason were competent men of affairs. The 
typical Virginia gentleman may have been haughty, proud, 
extravagant, and perchance impetuous, but he was apt to 
be straightforward, hospitable, honest, with a keen sense of 
honor, and a thorough devotion to his rights and liberties. 

Although the great planter was the most important person- 
age of colonial Virginia and dominated its social and political 

life, there were others whose presence must not 
Virrinia* "* be forgotten. There were the frontiersmen with 

their small clearings, men who were pushing out 
into what was then the new West, and who, earning their bread 
by their own toil, had little in common with the aristocratic 
planters of the East. Then there were the poor whites, reck- 
less, rollicking fellows, many of them, who gathered around the 
country taverns to bet on horse races or to engage in wrestling 
and gouging matches. And, lastly, there was a certain middle 
class, rough, unlettered men, perhaps, but often of sterling 
worth and good stock for a commonwealth. 

The College of William and Mary, established in 1693, was 
the only college in the South. The sons of the great planters 

often studied in Europe, or they were taught by 
educatfon'* private tutors, or perhaps they went to a Northern 

college; but the boy and girl of the common peo- 
ple had few chances to pick up learning. Even if the planter 
did not have book-learning — and some of them did — there was 
much that was invigorating in his life. The sense of responsi- 
bility and power which he constantly felt, his interest in poli- 
tics, his intercourse with other men — which a boundless hospi- 
tality encouraged — made him, in spite of his somewhat secluded 
life, a man of strong parts, with a knowledge of himself and 
some skill in dealing with his fellows. There was something 

ing, and where they will be missed for ten years more". These words 
were written of a somewhat later time, but were true of 1760. 



118 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



wholesome in the society which in one generation produced sev- 
eral of the great men of the world's history. Washington, 
Jefferson, and Marshall belong not to Virginia, but to the world. 




New England 
colonies. 



William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Va. 
From an old print 

The New England colonies differed somewhat from one an- 
other in their social, industrial, and political makeup; but on 
the whole they were much alike, while they pre- 
sented many sharp contrasts to the colonies of the 
South. The population was of almost pure English 
blood. ^ There were a few slaves, but slavery did not materially 
affect the conditions of life or change the development of the col- 
onies. "Originally settled", said a contemporary writer, "by 
the same kind of people, a similar policy naturally rooted in all 
the colonies of New England. Their forms of government, 
their laws, their courts of justice, their manners, and their 
religious tenets, which gave birth to all these, were nearly 
the same". 

The isolated life of the plantation was unknown in New 
England. Though by the middle of the eighteenth century the 
people had scattered somewhat, the small farmer was likely 



^ The population in 1760 was about 600,000; in Massachusetts there 
were about 300,000. 



CONDITION OF THE COLONIES IN 1760 119 

to be within sound of the church bell and within reach of a 

schoolhouse. There were many causes for this concentration of 

population. Some were natural or physical 

Town life. r ^.u j u 

causes, some sprang from the purposes and char- 
acter of the colonists. The chief reasons were the following: 
I. The long and dreary winter of New England brought 
the people together for companionship and protection. 




A Printing Press of Franklin's Day 

2. The soil was poor, and yielded its crops only to the 
diligent toiler; it did not by its fertility beguile man to 
easy agriculture; he was tempted to become a trader 
or a mechanic. 3. Since the sea was more fruitful than 
the land, little fishing villages dotted the coasts. 4. The 
rivers were many of them rapid and narrow, well suited 
to turn the mill wheel, but not serving as highways from the sea. 
5. For a century before the Revolution, the Indian was a con- 



120 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

stant source of fear, and this dread induced the frontiersman 
not to move too far from the village and the common defenses. 
6. Moreover, the early settlers were men of intense religious 
conviction and purpose; they came to worship together, and 
in consequence the first settlements were clustered around the 
meeting house. 7. In many instances, too, the people had been 
moved by a common interest to emigrate from "dear England", 
and they therefore settled together as a community to live out 
together a common life.^ 

While Virginia was almost solely given up to agriculture, 
the New England States had various industries. Farming, of 

course, occupied a great portion of the popula- 
industries. ^^°^! ^^^' especially in Massachusetts and Rhode 

Island, some persons engaged in manufacturing. 
Every New Englander, taught by stern necessity, became a 
mechanic more or less "handy with his tools". Had it not 
been for the repressive policy of the mother country, the hum 
of the busy factory wheels would have been heard along many 
of the swift water courses that were ready to give their force for 
the asking. As it was, something was done: linens and woolens 
were woven; the smith and tanner plied their trades; homely 
articles of daily use were made by the farmer and his sons, and 
the housewife prepared the simple homespun. 

Many were interested in ocean commerce, and were show- 
ing a skill that has become proverbial in all the arts of trade. 

Shipbuilding had grown to be a great industry. 

With their own ships the hardy Yankee seamen 
made long voyages. Before the end of the seventeenth century 
they sailed along the coast of the Southern States in their little 
sloops and ketches. The trade with the West Indies came to 
be of great importance. Cargoes of fish and lumber were taken 
to the islands, and sugar or molasses was brought back. Voy- 

* It may be necessary to say again that "town" as the word is used in 
New England did not commonly mean a group of homes. The people, as 
a rule, did live close together rather than on isolated farms, but the town 
covered several square miles, and the people within it were in the town in 
the governmental and social sense in which the word was commonly used. 



CONDITION OF THE COLONIES IN 176G 121 

ages to the countries of southern Europe were not uncommon.^ 
Thus it will be seen that before the Revolution the New Eng- 
land colonies had developed a wide commerce, and established 
a foundation for a broad and varied industrial life. 

New England was founded by men full of religious en- 
thusiasm, and throughout the whole colonial period religious 
beliefs strongly affected the manners and habits 

Religion. 

of the people. Religion was part of the daily so- 
cial life of the Puritan ; it was not something set apart for Sun- 
days and fast days. By the middle of the eighteenth century 
other elements than the strictly Puritanic were everywhere visi- 
ble, but society was still largely ruled by the early conceptions. 
Life was still running in the channels marked out by the founders 
of the colony. In early times churchgoing was the chief occupa- 
tion of Sunday. The churches were not heated in winter, but 
the devoted congregation seemed not to be disturbed by cold. 
One of this old, hardy school, writing in 1716, tells of the bread's 
being frozen at the communion table, and says: " Though it was 
so cold, yet John Tuckerman was baptized. At six o'clock my 
ink freezes so that I can hardly write by a good fire in my wife's 
chamber. Yet was very comfortable at meeting". One must 
honor the steadfast earnestness which warmed this good man. 
From such firm believers in what they believed, and sturdy 
doers of what they thought right, came many of those who in 
later years laid the foundations of the republic. 

"The public institutions in New England for the educa- 
tion of youth, supporting colleges at the public expense, and 

^ "No sea", exclaimed Burke, "but what is vexed by their fisheries. No 
climate that is not witness to their toils. Neither the perseverance of Hol- 
land, nor the activity of France, nor the dexterous and firm sagacity of Eng- 
lish enterprise, ever carried this most perilous mode of industry to the extent 
to which it has been pushed by this recent people — a people who are still, 
as it were, but in the gristle, and not yet hardened into the bone of man- 
hood". These words were spoken of the colonies in general, but are espe- 
cially true of the New England colonies. The people of the South sent 
their products to England and got back many things. The New Englander 
traded with the West Indies and carried on the coasting trade, trafficking 
sometimes in the rivers and bays of the Southern states. 



122 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



obliging towns to maintain grammar schools, are not equaled, 

and never were, in any part of the world". ^ Thus John Adams 

forcibly stated one great fact that lay at the bot- 

Education. ^^^ ^^ ^^^ England's worth. The colonies were 

founded by men who respected learning. In the middle of the 
eighteenth century illiteracy was almost unknown. Each man 
could read his Bible; he could read his books on politics as well 
as religion. Burke says that almost as many copies of Black- 

1^1 Mon. May hath xxxi days. 

Jirugal 'J%oug'ht, 
Tn an Acre of Land ate 43 jr^o icjuaie feet, 
In 100 Acre* are 4356000 iguate ieet i 
TventyPountliwihbuy ipo Acres of fhcPropiietOr. 
In 20]. are 4800 -pence ;'bywhich divide the Num- 
ber of Feet in 100 Acres ; and you will iind that 
OTie penny will buy 907 ftjuare Feefc ; or a Lot 0^ 30 
Fief Square. Save your Fence'. 



3 
4 
5 

d: 

7 
J 

2 



1 ag^ljiap Scgidines 

pleaf^nt. 
Daybreak j 16 
now expe£t 
% 5 thunder 
and rain. 

^logation. 



J6 
ff 

52, 
53 
52' 
4 51 
1114 5-0 



8 Tt>u in ay it, 
8 moTt htxpyy ■ihatv 
8 1> tife 3 jnoTrt. 
8 Trinces, if you 
8 tmHI hejnore 'Vtr- 
;^ fuous, 

8Ne\y: 3) 7 day, 
8 at noon. 



Facsimile of Part of a Page of Poor Richard's Almanac 

stone's Commentaries were sold in America as in England, and 
General Gage wrote from Boston that the people in his govern- 
ment were either lawyers or smatterers in law, "This study", 
says Burke, "renders men acute, inquisitive, dexterous, prompt 
in attack, ready in defense, full of resources". When Great 
Britain determined to coerce Massachusetts, she arrayed 
against herself the most enlightened and intelligent population 
on the face of the earth. 



^ Familiar Letters of John Adams, p. 120. 



CONDITION OF THE COLONIES IN 1760 



123 



Politically New England was nearly a pure democracy. 

Socially it was democratic in comparison with Europe or with 

the colonies of the South. The New England 

Classes of village, with its wide street, its rows of com- 

society. o ? 

fortable houses, and its big roomy yards, declared 
more plainly than words that no feudal system had ever laid its 
burden on the people. And yet, though few had anything that 




Tothe PUBLIC. 

THE FLYING MACHINE, kept by 
JohrtMercejeau, a.1 the "New- Blazing- Star- Feny, 
wearNev-York, JetjJ off from Powlee HooV ererjr Mon- 
day, Weiinefolay, and Friday Morningft, forPhil^delpKU., 
and performs itxe Journey in a Day and s. Jf »lf, for tKc 
flummcrSeAibp., till the i ft of Tf oveniber i ftotxvtival Time 
to ^ 't>vioe a Week till tKe flrA of May, wKfrn ihey 
aji^a perform it three Time* 5. Week . When th* Stages 

tc only twice a Week, they /eCoff Mond^a andTlmrP 
ays, THc Waggons in Philadelphia, i&T. oat from, the 
8J4n of the Gvor^^ in Second ftreet, the Jame Mbmin^. 
"rhePafl*'^§«'**^^«**fi'***tocTor8the Ferry the Evening 
brfore, a»tKe Stages muft. fet oIT early the ncrtMomm^. 
ThePi-iceforeA{:h.Pafiengeri3rr</<7»/;yJi/ffi>yCf, Proc and 
Goods AS oliMiT, Paflen^ers §oin^ J*art of the W^ topajy 
I ri PropvJ'^on. . 

A3 the Proprietor has made (uch Itnpi»ovcinen.ts upon 
the Machines, one of whicKis in Tmitationof a Coach. 
Ue hopes to Tneii't (fke Favour of the Poblick. 

JOHN MEnCEREAU. 

/f?ir nrt-Oamettt igif i 

A Contemporary Advertisement 

could be called riches, and none need be poor, there were social 
differences in New England. Some families were entitled to 



124 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



distinction. The best pews in church were reserved for them; 
they were treated with deference and respect. The "old 
families" were preferred to the "newcomers". Society was 
divided into gentlemen, yeomen, merchants, and mechanics, 
but the lines were not sharply drawn. Such primitive varia- 
tions from pure democracy seem quaint and trivial. One 
would greatly err, however, if he believed that these social 
distinctions did not influence the development of our history. 

Before the outbreak of the Revolution the population of 
the middle colonies had reached four hundred thousand. Many 
different nationalities were represented, the emi- 
grants from the countries of continental Europe 
having come in larger numbers to these colonies 
than to others.^ Though agriculture here, as elsewhere, was 
of chief importance, New York and Philadelphia were thriving 



The middle 
colonies. 




New York City in 1732, from Brooklyn Heights 



' It is naturally difficult to determine just how n^any of a nationality 
were in a colony. An attempt, more or less successful, has been made to 
decide on nationality by the name, but here a difficulty arises. Suppose a 
man's name was Klein — presumably he was a German; but he or his chil- 
dren might change the name and make it Little or Small. An instance is 
given of a French settler in New England whose name was Blondpied, i. e. 
Whitefoot; one of his sons came to be known as Blumpey and another one as 
Whitefoot. Professor Channing (History of the U. S., II, 422) gives a dia- 
gram showing that an American might be the great grandson of eight per- 
sons, each with a religion and a nationality different from the other. 



CONDITION OF THE COLONIES IN 1760 



125 



Education. 



places, the former with a population of about 14,000 people, 
the latter with 19,000. Both had considerable foreign commerce. 
In Pennsylvania manufacturing was begun, giving prophecy 
of the immense development of the future. 

The middle colonies had no such facilities for education 
and no such devotion to learning as the New England colonies. 
In New York City was King's College, established 
about the middle of the century, but the lower 
schools throughout the province were neither good nor plentiful. 
In New Jersey a few good schools were to be found, and Prince- 
ton College, established by the Presbyterians in 1746, though 
still small, was an influential and thrifty institution.^ Phila- 
delphia possessed two public libraries besides many excellent 
private ones, filled with copies of the classics of the time. The 
University of Pennsylvania was already founded and was in a 
flourishing condition. 

Of all the northern colonies 
New York had the nearest ap- 
proach to an aristoc- 
racy. There was a 
class of great land- 
holders possessed of vast estates, 
who towered above their neighbors. 
Some of the estates had been es- 
tablished in Dutch times, and some 
of their holders were descendants 
of men upon whom the old West 
India Company had lavished its 
grants. In New York City there 
were dignified Dutch merchants 
and ship owners; and there were 
Englishmen and men of other na- 

^ Several of the men who formed the Constitution of the United States 
were Princeton men — Paterson, Madison, Luther Martin, Ellsworth; some 
of them, it is interesting to notice, belonged to the same "society" in col- 
lege — a literary society! — the " Cliosophic Society", which means, I sup- 
pose, a society wise in history, since Clio is the muse of that noble branch 
of learning. 



New York 
aristocracy. 




126 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



tionalities who, possessed of some wealth — as wealth was 
counted in those simple days — held places of more or less 
social distinction; but the land was largely made up of farmers 
and fur-traders with a few artisans and small tradesmen. 

In Pennsylvania, save in the Quaker City, where there was 
a good deal of luxury among the descendants of the early 
settlers, the people ''ved simply. "In Pennsyl- 
PcMsyivaLa*! vania", said Albert Ldllatin at a later day, "not 
only we have neither Livingstons nor Rensselaers,* 
but from the suburbs of Philadelphia to the Ohio I do not 
know a single family that has any extensive influence. An 

equal distribution of prop- 
erty has rendered every 
individual independent, 
and there is among us 
true and real equality". 
The people were sober- 
minded and conservative. 
If other colonies were 
hasty, Pennsylvania was 
deliberate. To the more 
fiery colonies of the South 
and North she seemed at 
times phlegmatic and de- 
void of spirit. But Penn- 
sylvania cherished her lib- 
erties and knew how to 
defend them. 

If we should confine our attention solely to the central 
government of each colony, we should get but a faint idea of 
the political life of the American colonists. Rep- 
resentative assemblies were, as we have seen, alert 
and active; they show that the people were alive to political 
questions. But the virility of American politics is perhaps even 
more clearly seen in the local organizations. There were three 




The Birthplace of Benjamin Frank- 
lin IN Boston 



Political life. 



^ Two of the great New York families. 



CONDITION OF THE COLONIES IN 1760 127 

systems of local government: a, the town; b, the county; c, a 
mixture of the two. The New England colonies had the town, 
the Southern colonies the county, and the middle colonies the 
mixed system. 

The town grew up naturally in New England. The people 
of each small community looked after their common interests. 

All the little affairs of the neighborhood were the 
mind°^^^ concern of the town meeting;^ there was nothing 

beyond its reach. It sought to know "the town's 
mind", and to declare it. Each man was entitled to take part in 
its sturdy discussions, and each was expected to bow to the deci- 
sion of the town. Selectmen were elected to have general charge 
of town affairs; and a clerk,^ whose duties were various, and a 
constable were also chosen. Besides these officers there were 
many others, some of them regularly and annually elected, 
others because of a temporary need. The titles and duties of 
these men bring before us the readiness of the town to express its 
"mind" on any subject of common interest. Among them we 
find tithing men; fence viewers; hog reeves; measurers of 
wood; overseers of measurers of wood; men to take "care 
of the Alewives not Being stoped from going up the Re vers to 
cast their sporns"; men to prevent cheating by those who sold 
lumber, "because bundles of shingles are marked for a greater 
number than what they contain"; wardens to inspect "ye 

^ The town played an important part in its relation to the government 
of the colony, but its local duties were douljtless chief in its own eyes. An 
example of thorough local legislation is illustrated by the following: "It is 
ordered that all doggs, for the space of three weeks after the publishinge 
hereof, shall have one legg tied up. . . . If a man refuse to tye up his dogg's 
legg and he bee found scraping up fish in the come field, the owner shall pay 
12S. besides whatever damage the dogg doth". Quoted in Hart, Practical 
Essays on American Government, pp. 144, 145. 

^ Not simply the orders of the town meeting were written in his books; 
but births, deaths, and marriages, transfer of pews in the meeting house, 
estrays taken up, as "a Red Stray Hefar two years old and she hath sum 
white In the face". He wrote down, too, the earmarks of the farmers' cat- 
tle. "Joshua Brigs mark Is a Scware Crop In the under side of ye Right 
ear". See the delightful account in Bliss, Colonial Times on Buzzard's 
Bay, chap. vi. 



128 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

meeting Hous on ye Lord's Day and see to Good Order among 
ye Boys"; cattle pounders; sealers of leather; gamekeepers 
"to Bee the men for Prevesation of the Deare for the year 
Insuing". 

Here, then, men learned the art of government, and they 
learned the lessons of obedience as well. The New Englander 
did not gain his ideas of government from books; 
ticS'*°oHti*cs^'**^' ^^ based his theories on practice and experience. 
The town meeting was his school. Men thus 
trained could not accept tyranny; accustomed to govern them- 
selves, they were ready to resent the slightest encroachment 
upon their rights. 

The South did not have the town. Its method of settle- 
ment had not naturally produced it. In Virginia the county 

was the organ of local government. The popula- 
The South. . , ^ ^ * ^ , V, * ^u 1 

tion of a county was not large, but the people 

were scattered. Most important of all is the fact that the 
county officers were appointed by the royal governor, and were 
not the agents of the people. Its various officers thus repre- 
sented the power of the commonwealth, not of the 
locality; or, more correctly, they represented the 
power of the Crown in the colony. Were it not for the sterling, 
vigorous independence begotten by the freedom of Virginia 
life, one might fancy that under such a system free institutions 
would be in danger of extinction. Yet it must be remembered 
that this local authority was in the hands of men chosen by the 
governor from the neighborhood, not strangers or creatures of 
a foreign power, and also that the laws under which they acted 
were made by the people's own representatives.^ 
^tf^^oUdcai ^^^ result, at least, followed — practice in adminis- 
organjzation. trative government fell to a select few; the colony 
was governed by the conspicuous planters, who 

^ " The centralized system created able political leaders, just as the town 
meeting created a well-trained democracy, while the forces of American life 
tended to carry both alike against Crown and Parliament". (Hinsdale, 
The American Government.) The county in New England was established 
almost entirely for judicial purposes; in Virginia the county commission- 



CONDITION OF THE COLONIES IN 1760 129 

felt their aptitude for rule. Moreover, the colony, as the source 
of power, impressed itself strongly upon the minds of its 
citizens. The mass of the people, however, did not have that 
constant practice in managing their own local affairs which 
the town system gave to the New Englander. Jefferson thus ex- 
pressed his appreciation of Virginia's lack of proper local or- 
ganization: ''Those wards, called townships in New England, 
are the vital principle of their government, and have proved 
themselves the wisest invention ever devised by the wit of 
man for the perfect exercise of self-government, and for its 
preservation". 

In the middle colonies neither the county system of Vir- 
ginia nor the town system of New England prevailed, but a 

mixture of the two. There were counties and 
colonies ^ towus in both Pennsylvania and New York; but 

the county was not so important as in Virginia, 
nor the town so important as in New England. In Pennsyl- 
vania the county officers were chosen by popular election, but 
the township had also its duties. In New York the towns were 
of some importance and influence, but the most conspicuous 
feature of the system of this colony was the election of super- 
visors by the towns to form a representative body to regulate 
the affairs of the county. 

These three systems of local government are of more 
than mere historic interest, because, as the country has grown, 

each has played its part in the local organization 
thfsTTysteLs. o^ t^^ ^^^ States. Speaking generally, one may 

say that the various systems have been carried 
westward along the parallels of latitude. The town, commonly 
called township, prevails to-day in the Northern States west of 

ers, appointed by the governor, had judicial duties in the county court, but 
they also saw that the laws of the legislature were carried out. In New 
England local affairs were passed on by the people in town meeting; in 
Virginia local affairs — county affairs — were in the hands of the commission- 
ers appointed by the governor. In New England, the town meeting chose 
officers to carry out the "town's mind"; in Virginia the people chose the 
members of the House of Burgesses — the lower house of the colonial As- 
sembly; but had no meeting and did not choose the county oflScers. 



130 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION . 

the Alleghanies, the county in the Southern States. The 
method of connecting the town with the county by the election 
of supervisors has, moreover, been widely adopted, especially 
in the Northern States westward to the Pacific. 

There was great general similarity in the form and methods 
of colonial government.^ Yet, as we have already seen, there 

were differences . The colonies are commonly spoken 
goveHunents °^ ^^ royal, proprietary and charter, and that 

classification is a useful one; but the proprietary 
colonies were in one sense charter colonies, though there the 
proprietor was the person to whom the charter was given. 
A more exact division is into Royal, Proprietary, and Corpor- 
ation colonies. In the royal colonies the English government 
could in inconsiderable degree manage the colony through the 
governor, who was appointed by the Crown; in the proprietary 
colonies the proprietor appointed the governor, but, as the 
proprietor lived in England, he was thus subject to pressure 
from the English authorities. In both the royal and pro- 
prietary colonies the governor received orders and instruc- 
tions from a power without. In the corporation colonies the 
people elected their own 'governor and had no high ofiicial 
placed over them by exterior authority. The royal colonies 
were (1775) Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, 
New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire. At the outbreak of 
the Revolution Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland were 
proprietary colonies. Connecticut and Rhode Island were 



1 In marking out the distinction between the colonies, we must also note 
that there were religious differences. The New England people were largely 
Congregationalists, and in Massachusetts and Connecticut the church re- 
ceived support by taxation. • In the middle colonies there was no single 
fixed establishment and there were many sects. In Maryland, Virginia, 
and the two Carolinas the English or Episcopal Church was the estab- 
lished church. In all the colonies there were sects of various kinds, and 
many persons strongly opposed any prevailing system fostered and sup- 
ported by the state. The Roman Catholics, though loyal and, as events 
showed, good Americans in the days of the Revolution, were generally 
sharply discriminated against. 



\ 



r 



CONDITION OF THE COLONIES IN 1760 131 

corporation colonies, possessed of liberal charters which consti- 
tuted them practically into little self-governing republics. 
Massachusetts had also a charter; but the governor was a 
royal appointee, and thus it may more correctly be considered 
a royal colony. Although there were these marked differences 
in the forms of government, inwardly there were certain strong 
resemblances. Each had a governor, a council whose duties, 
were partly advisory, partly legislative, and generally also 
judicial, and a popular house based on popular but by no means 
universal manhood suffrage. Pennsylvania, Delaware, and 
Georgia had only one legislative house. ^ 

Everywhere in the colonies the spirit of liberty was "fierce".^ 
The temper and character of the people made the broad founda- 
tion for free government. "In this character of 
liberty"" " ^^^ Americans a love of freedom is the predomi- 
nating feature which marks and distinguishes the 
whole; and, as an ardent is always a jealous affection, your 
colonies become suspicious, restive, and untractable whenever 
they see the least attempt to wrest from them by force or shufHe: 
from them by chicane what they think the only advantage 
worth living for. This fierce spirit of liberty is stronger in the 
English colonies probably than in any other people of the earth". 
Filled with this fierce spirit of liberty, the colonies were sure to 
break away from the mother country whenever she abandoned 
her wise neglect and assumed the right to dictate or control. 
Their governments were already so organized that a change 
in the monarchial head would cause no violent shock, no great 
disruption in daily life and industry. Popular governors 
might take the place of royal favorites, and popular wishes 
might be more readily carried into effect, but the political 
training of the people gave assurance that, though there might 
be danger of occasional violence and turbulence, revolution 
would not mean dissolution, anarchy, or riot. 



^ The pupil will be helped by the study of local and general government 
in the colonies, as they are described in the books on civil government. 
^ Burke, Speech on Conciliation with America, Works, ii, p. 120. 
10 



132 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

References 

Channing, The United States of America, Chapter I; Lodge, 
Short History, Chapters II, IV, VI, VIII, X, XIII, XV, XVII, 
XXII (a series of very valuable chapters); Fisher, Colonial Era, 
Chapter XXI; Hart, Formation of the Union, Chapter I (1750); 
Hinsdale, The American Government, pp. 36-51; Cooke, Virginia, 
pp. 364-374; Hosmer, Samuel Adams, Chapter XXIII; Channing, 
History of the United States, Volume II. Use especially Hart, Source 
Book of American History. 



CHAPTER VIII 
CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION 



Representation 
in England. 



The close of the French and Indian wars found England 

elated and jubilant. She had established an immense empire. 

The long struggle for the possession of America 

England's ovcr, and in India, too, she had gained a 

new duties. ' ' ' '-' 

secure foothold. But her great success brought 
new duties and dangers. Could she rule wisely and well these 
vast colonial possessions? Could she adapt herself to her new 
situation? She was no longer girt about by "the four seas"; 
her tasks were world-wide. To solve her problems she must 
appreciate their difficulty, and act with rare wisdom and 
sense. 

But England inwardly was not in 
a healthy condition. She was entering 
upon a period of indus- 
trial growth and prosper- 
ity; the period of stagna- 
tion was behind her, but her political 
system had not developed to keep pace 
with the growth of her people. The 
great underlying principles of her Con- ' 
stitution were good, and on them a free 
popular government could be reared. 
Now, however, her government was in 
reality aristocratic, not popular. The 
whole system of representation had 

1 Henry played a great part in the events that led to separation from 
Great Britain. He was one of the greatest orators America has produced 
George Mason, himself a man of ability, said: "He is by far the most power- 
ful speaker I ever heard. But his eloquence is the smallest part of his merit. 
He is, in my opinion, the first man on this continent as well in abilities as 
public virtues". 

133 




134 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

become utterly wrong and foolish. She still clung to the doc- 
trine that money must be voted by the people's representatives 
— the House of Commons. But the House did not rest on the 
votes of the whole people, nor even, indeed, on a large part of 
them. Large and thriving cities were without the right to send 
members to Parliament, while little boroughs of a few houses 
had such right, simply because they had long ago acquired it. 
These little places were often willing to sell their, votes, or to 
cast them as directed by some nobleman who had control of 
the people. England needed to popularize Parliament and bring 
her government into closer relations with the people before she 
could wisely govern free Englishmen in the colonies, who were 
accustomed to think and act for themselves. 

It is probably true that, in spite of these absurdities and 

faults in the representative system, the will of the people of 

, Great Britain was not ill set forth in the House 

Amencan idea of . . , , 

representation of Commons; yet it IS clcar that representation 
compared with ju America meant something different from what 
ng IS 1 ea. .^ meant in England, and that the American sys- 
tem was more reasonable and right. In each of the colonies 
there was an assembly made up of men taken from the body 
of the people. The people of each representative district felt 
that they had thus a part in making the body that made the 
laws. In England, on the other hand, men were supposed to be 
represented in the House of Commons, even though great and 
populous sections had no participation in the election. For this 
and other reasons England could not fully appreciate American 
sentiment. Englishmen held that America was represented in the 
English Parliament, because it was the Parliament of the empire. 
An American colonist could not understand that sort of represen- 
tation. In other ways the colonists governed themselves more 
fully than the people of England governed themselves. A revolu- 
tion set in and the two peoples were torn apart, largely because 
England had now fallen behind the colonists in her appreciation 
of doctrines of political liberty and her application of them.^ 

^ American students often say that they cannot understand the English 
notion of representation; very well — neither could the Americans of a cen- 



CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION 135 

Moreover, George III had just come to the throne with 
strong ideas of the kingly prerogative. He aimed to control 

Parliament more fully than had been done since 
JJ^f^°^^^°** the great revolution (1688). He had built up a 

faction of personal supporters, known as the 
"king's friends", and sought to manage the ministry to suit 
his own desires. If this coalition between an aristocratic Parlia- 
ment, a ministry founded on bribery, and a designing king were 
once fully formed, the liberties of England were in danger, per- 
haps were already a thing of the past. And so America was to 
fight for English as well as American liberty. "America", 
exclaimed the great Pitt, the true founder of this new British 
empire, "America, if she fell, would fall like the strong man 
with his arms around the pillars of the Constitution". 

An idea prevailed in England that the colonies were the 
property of the mother country, that they existed for her. 

Men did not think of the colonists as Englishmen, 
ownersWp." Separated indeed from the old country by three 

thousand miles of water, but Englishmen still. 
They did not conceive of America simply as an expansion of 
England. They thought of England's owning the colonies, and 
too often seemed to think that she owned the colonists. Thus 
the whole basis of relationship was wrong. This is not to be 
wondered at. Such notions had prevailed in Europe since 
Spain had obtained her colonial "possessions". Natural as 
this feeling was, it prevented the English people from treating 
the restive Americans with fairness and with the consideration 

tury and a half ago : at least the Americans were out of patience when Eng- 
lishmen said America was represented in Parliament. "What"! said the 
American, "are we represented when we have no voice in choosing mem- 
bers of Parliament"? "Certainly", said the Englishman. "Parliament 
represents you because it looks after your interests and watches over you 
tenderly. A person can be represented by another even if he does not choose 
that other, can't he"? "Nonsense"! replied the American. "I am repre- 
sented by the man I choose or at the very least by persons chosen by the 
people in my county or town". It must not be supposed that the Amer- 
icans in general sought the right to send members to Parliament; they de- 
manded a recognition of the right to manage their affairs and vote their 
own money in their own assemblies. 



136 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

that was their due. "Every man in England", said Franklin, 
"seems to jostle himself into the throne with the king and talks 
about our subjects in America".^ 

Up to this time (1760) the mother country had not tried 
to tax the colonies directly, or to interfere in any marked degree 
with their local concerns. External trade had 
been regulated somewhat, and was generally 
conceded to be a matter for the English Govern- 
ment. But in internal affairs the colonies largely managed 
their own concerns. The colonies flourished in neglect.^ When 
it was suggested to wise old Robert Walpole that he tax the 
colonies, he exclaimed, "What! I have old England set against 
me, and do you think I will have new England likewise"? 
England should have rested content with this practical and 
sensible compromise. It might be asserted that it was illogical, 
and that the British Parliament was supreme over the colonies 
and had as good right to pass laws for the internal manage- 
ment of the colonies as to make regulations for external trade. 
But it was not a question of logic; it was a question of 
common sense. 

As early as 1651, in the time of Cromwell, England legis- 
lated in behalf of English commerce to cut off any profit there 

1 The cause of the American Revolution was, as much as any one thing, 
the sense of superiority felt by Englishmen and especially by the ruling 
classes. One noble lord declared it absurd that men of a mercantile cast 
should be "every day collecting themselves and debating about political 
matters". The lackey that polished his master's boots or arranged the lace 
on his master's fine coat felt a little up in the world when he spoke of "our 
subjects in America". And yet, here of course, we can exaggerate — many 
a man among the poorer classes, yes and sometimes one farther up the scale, 
knew that when he chided America or praised the English representative 
system he was defending what Pitt called the " rotten part of the constitu- 
tion". 

^ "The colonies", said Burke, "in general owe little or nothing to any 
care of ours, . . . but through a wise and salutary neglect a generous nature 
has been suffered to take her own way to perfection". This is of course an 
extreme statement, though it is essentially true. For decades English ad- 
ministrators had sought to bring order and system into colonial management 
and to make something like a real empire; but the work had been fitful and 
in part fruitless. 



CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION 137 

might be to foreign countries in trading with her colonies. 
After this time laws multiplied, all directed toward the same 
end, namely, the holding of the entire colonial 
iaw^s.°*"^* '"'^ commerce in her own hands. Only English or 
colonial ships could carry on colonial trade; the 
most important products of the colonies could be carried only 
to England, and — perhaps most important of all — foreign 
goods could not be brought to the colonies except under heavy 
duty, unless first shipped from an English port. In other words, 
the colonies were restricted to the English market and, save 
where they had their own vessels, to English carriers; and they 
were not allowed to import foreign goods save by using the 
English merchants as their factors. Moreover, trade between 
the colonies was restricted. In addition to all this, acts had 
been passed to stamp out the beginnings of Amer- 
ican manufactures in order that the colonies 
might be dependent on England for supplies. It must be said 
that other countries with colonial possessions treated their 
colonists with less consideration than England did. In some 
respects English legislation favored colonial enterprise, and up 
to the time of the last French war the laws do not seem to have 
injured the colonies materially. An attempt to enforce them, 
however, and to secure not simply a monopoly of American 
trade but to obtain revenue, irritated the colonies and helped 
to bring on disaster.^ 

The navigation laws had not been rigidly enforced. They 
were constantly broken. But now, before the end of the 

^ There was one law, the famous Molasses Act of 1733, which sought to 
cut off American trade with the French and Spanish West Indies by placing 
heavy duty on molasses brought from these foreign colonies, and this act 
was constantly broken by the New Englanders. They wanted molasses out 
ot which to make New England rum, portions of which were carried away 
to form the basis of the nefarious slave trade, and they wanted to carry 
their fish and lumber to the West Indies and get molasses and sugar and 
silver — real silver — for their cargoes. Much of the American trade with 
Europe was carried on with England alone and in accord with the principle 
of the Navigation Acts; but even in the European trade the Americans 
sometimes disregarded the acts, while the Molasses Act was almost a dead 
letter. 



138 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

French war, the ministry became infatuated with the idea of 
stopping this lawlessness and enforcing the acts. One of the 
means employed was the issuing of general war- 
assistance rants to search for smuggled goods. These warrants 
were called "writs of assistance". Such a writ 
gave general and not particular instruction to the revenue 
officers. It was good for an indefinite time, and might serve as 
authority for search in any suspected place. Such a power 
in the hands of an officer is dangerous to liberty.^ In 1761 a 
great case arose. James Otis, a young and brilliant lawyer, 
argued before the Superior Court of Massachusetts against the 
validity of these writs, and declaimed against them with soul- 
stirring eloquence. "A man's house is his castle"jhe exclaimed; 
"and whilst he is quiet he is as well guarded as a prince in his 
castle". He held up to view the fundamental principles of 
English liberty which the English constitution embodied and 
declared "An act against the constitution is void". "Then 
and there", said John Adams, "was the first scene of the first 
act of opposition to the arbitrary claims of Great Britain. Then 
and there the child of Independence was born". 

Shortly after this Patrick Henry made a great speech in 
Virginia. A statute had been passed by the Virginia Legisla- 
ture that materially lessened the income of the 
cause*^'^""^ clergymen, which was payable in tobacco. This 
act was declared void by royal authority in 
England. A clergyman now brought suit to obtain his dues 
under the law as it existed before this statute was passed. Henry 
was retained for the defense, and poured out his torrents of 
new-found eloquence in defense of the right of the colonial legis- 
lature to pass such laws as it chose, without reference to the 
gracious permission of the English king. He declared "that a 
king, by disallowing acts of this salutary nature, from being the 
father of his people degenerates into a tyrant, and forfeits ail 
right to his subjects' obedience". The jury brought in a ver- 

1 Notice the Constitution of the United States, Amendments, Article IV, 
where general warrants are made illegal. 



CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION 139 

diet of one penny damage for the poor parson. Thus it appears 
that in Massachusetts and in Virginia popular young orators 
were ready to preach a doctrine that savored of rebellion. The 
Americans were then faithful subjects of King George, but 
Henry struck the keynote of colonial politics when he asserted 
that the test of a law's validity was not the kingly sanction, 
but the people's desire.^ 

George Grenville ^ is said to have brought on the American 

war because he read the colonial dispatches, and this is only 

an exaggeration of the truth. Even at the end of 

Grenville ^-^^ French War there had been an attempt to en- 

determines to _ . ' 

enforce the laws, forcc the acts and regulations shutting off trade 
with the French and Spanish West Indies, and 
now, when the war was over, Grenville made up his mind to carry 
out the laws and even to make them sources of revenue. The 
Sugar Act, passed in 1764, provided for the continuation of the 
Molasses Act; but it was evidently intended in part at least for 
revenue instead of prohibition, for duties were lowered, and 
moreover the ministry intended to see that it was obeyed.^ But 
the New Englander had too long carried on this trade without 
interference and he resented the new intercession. 

England saw that the colonies were prosperous and rich. 

She had expended vast sums of money in the late war, so why 

not tax the colonies and make them pay at 

1765. ^^^ '^ ' ^^^^^ ^ P3-rt of the expenses of caring for them 

in the future? * With this end in view Parliament 

passed the ill-fated Stamp Act. It provided that bills, notes, 

' Tyler's Patrick Henry, chap, iv, gives a picturesque account of this 
famous case. 

- First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1763-65. 

2 "The custom houses were to be something more than cosy nooks on 
the wharves where holders of sinecures might doze comfortably; the ships 
of war everywhere were to be instructed to enforce the revenue laws". 
(Hosmer, Life of Thomas Hutchinson, p. 52.) , 

^ Grenville forgot perhaps that the colonies, especially the New Eng- 
land colonies — those very colonies which had the largest degree of self gov- 
ernment under their charters — had given men and money freely and had 
fought like Trojans to beat the French. 




140 



CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION 



141 



marriage certificates, legal documents, etc., should be written 

only on stamped paper. The revenue obtained from the sale 

of stamps was to be used for colonial defense. The plan was 

not devised for enriching the mother country at the expense of 

the colonies; for it was fully expected that the tax would yield 

not more than £100,000 — less than one third the amount 

England must expend to protect America efl&ciently from foreign 

invasion or Indian uprising. 

rr^ H E Lteutenakt Governor 



It cannot be said, therefore, 
that the law was an act of 
greed, or of tyranny in any 
large sense. But the colo- 
nists resented it; it ran 
counter to all their prac- 
tices and principles. Their 
love of liberty was "fixed 
and attached on this specific 
point of taxing".^ 

The Stamp Act alarmed 
America. The Virginia As- 
sembly adopt- 

The Stamp Act , ' , ^ . 

Congress. ^d resolutions, 

offered and 
eloquently supported by 
Patrick Henry, declaring 
that "taxation of people by 
themselves or by persons 
chosen by themselves to 
represent them ... is the 
distinguishing characteristic of British freedom, and without 
which the ancient constitution cannot subsist". The Massachu- 
setts representatives called for a general congress of the colonies. 
In October (1765) delegates from nine colonies assembled in New 
York. Fear of the French, dread of the Indians, and all else had 
hitheirto not brought about union. Now in a moment, when 



I declares he ^yill do nothing in 
Relation to the STAMPS, but 
leave it to Sir Henry Moore, to do ds 
he pleafes, on his Arrival. Council 
Channber, New- York, Nov. 2^ 1765. 
By Order of his Honour, 
Gw. Banyar, D. CI. Con. 
The Giovemor acquainted Judge Li- 
tmgfton, the Mayor, Mr. Beverly Robm- 
Jbn^zxv^Mx. Jobn Stevens^ this Morning, 
being Monday the 4th of November, that 
he would not iflue, nor fuffer to be if- 
fued, any of the STAMPS now in Fort- 
George. Robert R. Lhir^on. 
Jobn CrugeTy 
Beverly Roimjoftt 
John Stevens. 
The Freemen, Freeholders, and In- 
habitants of this City, being fatisfiedthat 
the STAMPS are not to be iffued, are 
determined to keep the Peace of the Ci- 
ty, at all Events, except they Ihould 
Have other Caufb of Complaint. 

Handbill Issued in New York to Al- 
lay Excitement and Check Riotous 
Opposition to the Stamp Act 



I 



^ Burke's Speech on Conciliation with America. 



142 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



their chosen liberties were threatened, they came together. 
The congress drew up memorials addressed to the English 
Government, and a "Declaration of Rights and Grievances of 
the Colonists in America". 

But the resistance to the Stamp Act was not all by remon- 
strance. In Boston during the summer there was disorder. 
The stamp collector was hanged in effigy; the 
house of Chief Justice Hutchinson was sacked. 
Other acts of violence occurred. Though the town 
meeting of Boston expressed its "abhorrence" of such con- 
duct, it was clear that there were some who did not distinguish 



Disorder and 
riots. 




//it t^///ftra/ ~J /o/ytij//^ 






•;;ir£^.^^S^"^'#^^^?*^'^:^^'^ X'Jr.^^^'f-"''"'--'-'^^^-'^"'^-''^ .^g?i^-^£;^<^«^^*?*^ 



The Repeal, or the Funeral Procession of Miss Americ-Stamp 

A Contemporary Cartoon. From the original in the Emmet Collection, 

NeW York Public Library 

between orderly and disorderly resistance. In New York, too, 
there were mobs, and there was strong evidence everywhere 
that the act could be enforced only at the point of the bayonet, 
if at all. Societies were organized, called "Sons of Liberty", 
pledged to resist the obnoxious law. Many entered into agree- 
ments not to use British goods. 

Meanwhile, there were amazement and discomfiture in 



CAUSES O. THE REVOLUTION 143 

England. The merchants began to feel a loss of trade. Gren- 
ville had resigned before he could see the consequence of his 

own well-meaning folly. A new ministry was 
repTaied'^ Confronted with serious difficulties, for America 

seemed actually on the verge of open violence and 
resistance. William Pitt, who for some time had been kept 
by illness from his place in the House, now appeared to sup- 
port the colonial cause. He declared that there was a plain 
distinction between "taxes levied for the purpose of raising 
revenue and duties imposed for the regulation of trade". He 
insisted that internal taxation without representation was 
tyranny, and, if the Americans yielded, it would be an evil omen 
for English liberty. "The gentlemen tell us", he exclaimed, 
"America is obstinate; America is in open rebellion. I rejoice 
that America has resisted". The act was repealed, and there 
was great rejoicing on both sides of the ocean. ^ 

Had England been content with this comfortable retreat 
all would have been well. But new acts were soon passed 

quite as obnoxious as the old. The opponents 
acts, 1767. ^^ ^^^ Stamp Act had declared that England could 

not impose a direct tax, but could regulate the 
external trade of the colonies. Charles Townshend, a brilliant, 
flippant man, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, proposed to 
levy duties on goods imported into the colonies, as a fair example 
of external regulation. The act was passed laying an import 
duty on tea, paints, paper, glass, and red and white lead. The 
writs of assistance were declared legal. The revenue was to 
be used to pay the salaries of the judges and royal governors in 
America. From what we have seen of the struggles of the 
colonial assemblies in the eighteenth century, we may be sure 
that the object of the duty rendered it doubly disagreeable; 
if money were thus expended, the governors and judges would 

* With the repeal of the Stamp Act was coupled the Declaratory Act 
which announced that Parliament had the right to bind the colonies "in all 
cases whatsoever". The colonists, though not saying much at first about 
this declaration of unlimited power in Parliament, never forgot it. If Par- 
liament has all power, they said, what are we but slaves? 



Glorious News. 

BOSTON, Friday fi o'Clock, ibth AJqy 1766. 
IHIS Inflant arrived here the Brig Harrifon, belonging 
to y<?Zv; Hancock, Efq; Captain Shubael Cc^n^ in 6 
Weeks and 2 Days from London, with importaat 
News, as follows. 



From the London Gazette. 
lyeftminjler,' M.4rch »Sdi, 1766. 

THIS Jay his M.ijcfly came ro tKe Koufe of P.-(?rs. anJ beini; in Jih royjj 
robes leatcd on I^e throne *wih Cic ufu?i foLrniinty, Sir Francis Moli. 
rteux. Gendemyi LJAier of ihc Black Rud, was (cut wuH a Mcflaga 
frotti hrt Majeily to tlic Hoiile oT CortHiicajs, coninurkliiig their aucn- 
thace in the Houfcof Peers. The Commons being come thither accordingly, 
liis Mjjefly was p?cafed to give his roy.Tl jlTcnrco 

An ACT fo REPEAL an A O made in the .'off Silhon of P.n liamcnf, in* 
irulcH, an A£^ for granting .;nd apj^ying certain Stamp- L)ai its and other Duties 
in ilic I3ritifti Colonics and Pbnia'ions in America. io*ardb further defraying 
the CNjx-.nces of defending, protcclint; and fcciinag ilic fame, and for amending 
fuch parts of the (everal Afls o( Parliament relanng to the trade and revenues 
cf the (aid Colonies and Pl.Tntanoni, as dire(!> the manner of determining and 
rccovccing the penalties and torfeit-jrcs therein mentioned, 
Alfo ten public bills, and ferenicen privateoncs. 



V\!-.rn the KING went to (he Houfc of Peers to give ilic RoyalAfftnt, there 
was (uch a va(l Concoiirle o( People huz/jini;, clapping iiaods, ice. that it 
was feveral Huu's befpic Hit Ma^clty reached tl-e Honfc. 

Immediate'yon His ■Majcllv'i Signing the Royal Alfont ro ilic i?cpeal of the 
Stamp-A.ft the Merchants iradinc: to .America. difpatcl.ed a VelTcl *hich had beca 
in wailing, to pot into the firfl Port on the Cotitfhent «ith the .^ccoun^. , 

There were the grratell kcjoicings po^Tible irt theCity of London, by all Ranks 
of People, on tlic I'OT.AL Repeal of the S:amp-AifJ,— 'he Ships in the River 
cTiiplayed all thcrr CcioutSi lil-ri..:u(inns 2nd.-B"rif're.'! m manv Parts.__ — In 
(hurt, the Rfjoicingn were as great as was eTcr known on any Occafion. 

It is faid the Arts of Trade relating to A merit" woi.KI be taken under Con- 
fideratioo. and all Grievances removed. The Friends lo America arc very pow- 
erful, and difpofcd ro alTill us to the utraoft of ihcir Ab.liiy. 

Capt. Blake failed the fame Day ivitii Capt. Coffin, and Capt. Sband a Fort* 
nigiit before him, both bound to this Port. 

It is impoftblc to cxprtji the Joy the Tc-»)i it wza in, on receiving the 
ab'jve, great, ^kricus and impirtant blE^VS—Thc Belli n -11 the Churches 
tver: immediately fet a Ringing, and we heCt' the 'Day for a general Rejoicing 
Tt/ill be the beginning of next fVeek. 
, V>-VN^(./V>^ ' ■■- -^ • 

Frtnted for the Bcaeiit of the PUBLIC, by 
Drapers, Edet & Gi'J, Green & Rupll, and Fleets. 
ThcCufloaiers to the BoftonPape.s may bi?e ihcaboTc gratis at tbcrefpeflive 
Offires. 

Handbill ANNOtJNCiNG Repeal of the Stamp Act 



CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION 145 

be entirely removed from popular control. Added to this 
grievance was the fact that about this time Parliament sus- 
pended the legislative functions of the New York Assembly, 
because it had not made suitable provision for quartering the 
British troops. 

The colonists protested against the Townshend acts. There 
was a clear practical distinction between "regulation" and 
duties for revenue. Samuel Adams, "the man 
protesrs. '^^ ^^^ town meeting", was now clerk of the Mas- 

sachusetts Assembly. In this position he was 
active in keeping resentment at the proper pitch. He wrote a 
series of addresses that were issued by the Assembly. The 
most important document of all was a circular letter sent to 
the other colonies asking cooperation and consultation. John 
Dickinson, of Pennsylvania, wrote at this time the famous 
"Farmer's Letters", full of good sense and shrewd reasoning. 
"English history", he hinted, "affords examples of resistance". 
Non-importation and non-consumption agreements were en- 
tered into. Some revenue was obtained under the act, but the 
net returns were a mere trifle. Troops were sent to Boston in 
the autumn of 1768. From this time on Boston was the center 
of attention. 

Shortly after the passage of the Townshend acts Parliament 
petitioned the king that persons in the colonies charged with 
treason should be carried to England for trial. 
threa°.^^'^°"^ '^^^^ secms to havc been a mere threat, but if Par- 
liament was not in earnest it was playing with a 
sacred right, the right of an Englishman to be tried by a jury 
of the vicinage or the neighborhood. To withhold this privilege 
was tyranny.^ On hearing of this action by Parliament, the 

1 It is nowhere more strikingly denounced than in Burke's Letter to the 
Sheriffs of Bristol. "A person is brought hither in the dungeon of a ship's 
hold; thence he is vomitted into a dungeon on land, loaded with irons, un- 
furnished with money, unsupported by friends, three thousand miles from 
all means of calling upon or confronting evidence, where no one local cir- 
cumstance that tends to detect perjury can possibly be judged of: — such a 
person may be executed according to form, but he can never be tried accord- 
ing to justice". 



146 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



A principle at 
stake. 

cherished. 



Virginia House passed a series of resolves. They assured the 
king of the loyalty of his subjects, but asserted in unmistakable 
language the right of petition and the privilege 
resolve's^*"* of self -taxation, and declared that sending persons 
"beyond the sea to be tried is highly derogatory 
of the rights of British subjects". 

In 1770 the Townshend acts were modified. The duty 
was taken off all the articles save tea, but the act so altered 
was as obnoxious as before. The discussion in 
Parliament disclosed the utter failure of many to 
appreciate the principles which the colonists 
It was not a paltry £40,000 a year that was at 
stake; the principle of self-taxation and the rights of the 
popular assemblies were in danger. This is what Webster 
meant when he said at a later day, "They went to war 
against a preamble. They fought seven years against a 
declaration". 

Meanwhile the British troops 
in Boston were a constant irri- 
tant. The House of 
Ma'ss^^r Representativesre- 
fused to legislate or 
pass bills of supply. They de- 
nounced a standing army as a 
menace to their liberties, and 
absolutely refused to pay for 
quartering the troops (1769). 
The soldiers on the streets were 
a source of annoyance and were 
often insulted and provoked by 
crowds of men and boys, who 
delighted in teasing them. On 
the night of March 5, 1770, 
occurred the "Boston Massacre". A small guard of sol- 
diers, irritated beyond endurance, fired into a crowd and 
instantly killed three persons and wounded several others, two 
mortally. Only the immediate arrest of the offending soldiers 



AMERICANS! 

BEAft IN RCMItURAMCC 

The HORRtD MASSACREI 

Perperrited in Kingtfttcel. Boston. 

New- England. 

On the Evening of M»rch the Fifth, 1770. 

When rivE of your fellow countrymen, 

Grav. Ma\i»icic, Caldwrll. Attucks. 

and Cari, 

Lay w'allowing in theit Core ? 

Being tafely, and mod inbamanly 

MURDERED! 

And SIX others badly wounded! 

B/ a Party of ihc XXIXln Regiment, 

Under the command ol Capt. Tho. Prefton 

rcmcmxer! 

That Two of the MuRDtRERS 

Were convifted of MANSLAUGHTER! 

By a Jury, of whom I fliall fay 

NOTHING, 

Branded in (he hand I 

And difmJfeJ, 

The others were Ac(iuiTTE», 

/\nd their Capuin .PENSIONED! 

Portion of a Handbill Recall- 
ing THE Boston Massacre 



CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION 147 

prevented a serious riot. The town meeting next day, under 
the lead of Samuel Adams, demanded the immediate with- 
drawal of the troops from the town. To this demand the 
authorities finally acceded, and stationed the soldiers on an 
island in the harbor. The massacre caused great excitement 
throughout the colonies. When the soldiers were tried on the 
charge of murder, they were defended by John Adams and 
Josiah Quincy, two bright young lawyers, whose devotion to the 
popular cause had not stifled their sense of justice. Two sol- 
diers were found guilty of manslaughter and slightly punished. 
For some time there was quiet; but all danger was not 
removed. By this time Samuel Adams had made up his mind 
that the colonies ought to be independent. He 
^°'^^' worked without ceasing. In 1772 he moved in the 

committees of . , 

correspondence. -Boston town mcctmg the appomtmcnt of a com- 
mittee " to state the rights of the Colonists and of 
this province in particular as men, as Christians and as sub- 
jects; . . . also requesting of each Town a free communication 
of their sentiments on this subject". Thus was shown the 
worth of the town meeting as a weapon against oppression. 
The Assembly might, mayhap, be dissolved, browbeaten, even 
outwitted; the town meetings, everywhere alert, could not be 
crushed. 

In this year (1772) an English ship, the Gaspee, whose 
commander seems to have been very arbitrary and arrogant in 
„, „ his efforts to enforce the revenue laws, was at- 

The Gaspee. 

tacked and burned by a party of Rhode Islanders.^ 
It was a piece of violence that deserved condemnation; but the 
English Government unduly magnified the offense and appointed 
a commission for investigation, which threatened to take the 
culprits to England for trial. The offenders could not be dis- 
covered, however, while the high-handed methods of the com- 
mission aggravated the discontent in the colonies. The 

^ There were many acts of violence during these years; and we need 
neither excuse nor commend them. But we must remember that a great 
revolution was in progress, and that in such times violent men and wicked 
characters find an opportunity for disorder. 
11 



148 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

Virginia Assembly appointed a Committee of Correspondence 
to keep in communication with the other colonies. Thus a 
means was provided for getting the colonies to act in concert. 
"In this manner", says Bancroft, "Virginia laid the foundation 
oi our Union". 

An act of violence now occurred in Boston, and affairs 
hurried to a climax. To aid the East India Company, Parlia- 
ment had granted the right to send tea from the 

The Boston Tea ,, •T-'ijj*iiiA 

■Party Company s stores m England directly to America 

and had relieved the company from paying certain 
.duties in England on the tea so shipped. A duty of eleven 
pence per pound was, however, collectible in America and, 
though the tea could actually be sold cheaper here than in 
England, the colonists objected to the duty. Several cargoes 
were sent to America and when tea ships arrived in Boston 
Tiarbor (1773) the people demanded that they return and take , 
their fragrant cargoes with them. But the authorities refused 
to give the sailing papers. On the evening of December i6th 
a body of men disguised as Indians boarded the ships, and, 
breaking open the chests, emptied their contents into the sea. 
Boston had thrown down the gauntlet. The English people 
were outraged by this action. Fiery speeches were made in Par- 
liament. "The town of Boston", said one, "ought 
7^^, ^^t, . to be knocked about their ears and destroyed". 

intolerable acts, . . -' 

i774. Another described their acts as " the proceedings of 

a tumultuous and riotous rabble, who ought . . . 
to follow their mercantile employments and not trouble them- 
selves with politics and government, which they do not under- 
stand". In this spirit Parliament passed the famous Boston 
Port Bill, closing the port of Boston until the tea was paid for 
and the town became compliant and obedient; Salem was made 
the seat of government. The second changed the charter of . 
Massachusetts in many important particulars, chiefly by extend- , 
ing the power of the Crown; town meetings, except for electing 
officers, could be held only by the governor's permission. The 
third act provided that if any person were accused of "murther 
•or other capital crime", and if it were made to appear that 



CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION 



149 



' the fact was committed in the execution of his duty as a magis- 
trate, for the suppression of riots" or in support of the laws, the 
accused should be taken for trial to some place outside the col- 
ony. This seemed to the Americans to encourage officers in 




""•,N^/OOJflA? 



The Wise Men of Gotham and their Goose 

the boston port bill as pictured by a contemporary london car- 
TOONIST 

From the original in possession of Mr. R. T. H. Halsey, and copyrighted by 
the Grolier Club 

shooting down the people. A fourth bill provided for quartering 
troops in America. A fifth, called the Quebec Act, should in 
justice to England be disassociated from the other four, but 
the colonists objected to it and classed it with the others; it 
established the old French law in Canada, sanctioned the 



150 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

Catholic religion there, and extended the boundaries of the 
province westward and southward to the Mississippi and Ohio. 
The establishment of the despotic law of France, even in the old 
French colony, was thought by the Americans to be a menace 
to free institutions in all the colonies. The recognition of 
Roman Catholicism, although in fact it was a reasonable act of 
toleration, offended the New Englanders and seemed to threaten 
their chosen faith. Moreover, Massachusetts and other 
colonies claimed, under their charters, title to portions of this 
western land thus made part of Canada. Such were the five 
"Intolerable Acts". In May (1774) General Gage, commis- 
sioned as governor, came to Boston with additional troops to 
see that the laws were obeyed. Boston harbor was closed. 

Again all the colonies were alarmed. Their political 

theories were alike; the political practices of all had made for 

self-government. Now, in spite of differences in 

The First social and industrial condition, under the stress of a 

Continental ' 

Congress. common danger and a common fear, a new people 

was born. September 5, 1774, a Congress met at 
Philadelphia. Delegates were present from all the colonies save 
Georgia, and the people of Georgia were known to be in sympathy 
with the purposes of the Congress. It issued a " Declaration of 
Rights". This declared that the people of the colonies were 
"entitled to life, liberty, and property", and that they had 
"never ceded to any sovereign power whatever a right to dispose 
of either without their consent". It further asserted that the 
colonists were entitled to the rights of Englishmen, 
and that the "foundation of English liberty, 
and of all free government, is a right in the people to 
participate in their legislative council; and as the English 
colonists are not represented, and from their local and other 
circumstances cannot be properly represented in the British 
Parliament, they are entitled to a free and exclusive power of 
legislation in their several provincial legislatures". They con- 
sented, out of regard to mutual interest, "to the operation of 
such acts of the British Parliament as are bona fide restrained 
to the regulation of our external commerce". This was a rea- 



CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION 151 

sonable compromise. The colonies had now come to the point 
where they utterly denied the authority of the British Parlia- 
ment over them; ^ they had their own "parliaments"; but for 
mutual interest they promised to recognize laws passed by the 
British Parliament that were really external in their operation, 
and were acts of real regulation and not of taxation. 

The Congress also framed Articles of Association, wherein 

the delegates for themselves "and the inhabitants of the several 

colonies" agreed and associated," under the sacred 

The association. . .,^. ^_ ,^ . ^ ,, 

ties of Virtue, Honor, and Love or our Country , 
not to import into America any goods from Great Britain, prod- 
ucts from the British West Indies, tea or wines. The importa- 
tion of slaves was to cease December ist. Addresses to the 
king, to the people of the colonies, to the people of Quebec, and 
to the people of Great Britain were adopted. But more im- 
portant and fateful than all these addresses was the following 

resolution: "That this Congress approve the oppo- 

The addresses. 

sition of the inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay to 
the execution of the late Acts of Parliament; and if the same shall 

be attempted to be carried into execution by force, 
Congress jj^ gy^^ji ^ase all America ought to support them in 

Bo^ton.^ their opposition". This could mean but one thing 

— war with the mother country if she persisted. 
Thus, little by little, England and America were estranged 
and ready for open war; and yet this does not tell the whole 

truth, for America was divided and in England the 
Differences in colonists had many eager and able defenders. If the 
and ^erica. king was obstinate and if Parliament on the whole 

was incapable of appreciating the colonial position, 
Some men there were, like Burke and Chatham and Fox,who were 

1 If now Parliament insisted on legislating for the colonies in other 
respects, and against the colonial desire, and if the king accepted such acts 
of Parliament and tried to enforce them, the Americans would have, in 
their opinion, the lawful right to refuse obedience. And if the king per- 
sisted, he would himself be acting beyond his legal authority. As yet, 
however, there was little bitter talk, except among the extremists, about 
throwing off the power of the king. Compare the Declaration of Independ- 
ence, where George III is charged with giving his assent to "acts of pre- 
tended legislation". 



152 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

not dull, nor short-sighted, nor ungenerous; ^ many men through- 
out the troublesome years that followed were bold enough to 
wish ill success to the arms of their own country. In America 
the situation was complicated. There were some leaders, like 
Samuel Adams, who were ready for war and eager for indepen- 
dence; others were unwilling to consider independence, but were 
prepared to fight for the maintenance of their "constitutional 
rights"; others, again, believmg England wrong, preferred 
peace to war and looked with horror on the thought of renounc- 
ing the name of Englishmen. No small portion of the people 
were irreconcilable loyalists, opposing the radical leaders and 
willing to give up their all rather than rebel against their king. 
And so, while we may trace out, as we have done in the preced- 
ing pages, the gradual widening of the breach between the 
colonies and the mother country, we must not think that the 
people of either country were altogether united in their senti- 
ments and sympathies. John Adams in later years declared 
that about one-third of the American people were "Tories". 
And all this means that, while we speak, and shall probably 
always speak, of the struggle between England and America, 
the war that ensued had many of the features and many of the 
deplorable effects of a civil war. 

Trivial offenses on the part of government cannot justify 

revolution. Only oppression or serious danger can justify war. 

It cannot be said that the people of the colonies 

Was the j^^^j actually suffered much. It might even seem 

Revolution i i i j n .1 

justifiable? that the mother country was not at all tyrannical 
in taxing the colonies to pay for defending them, 
and beyond question George III and his pliant ministers had no 
intention of treating the colonists with cruelty. How, then, can 
the war that followed be justified? The Revolution was justifi- 
able because the colonists stood for certain fundamental princi- 
ples that were woven into the very fabric of their lives. They 

^ Even after the Boston Tea Party Chatham, though indignant at the 
methods of the Bostonians, pleaded for consideration: "Clasp them once 
more in your fond and affectionate arms", he exclaimed; "and I will ven- 
ture to aflSrm you will find them children worthy of their sire". 



CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION 153 

were determined that no one should take money from them with- 
out their consent, and that their own local governments should 
be indeed their own and do their will. They carried to a legiti- 
mate conclusion the true political principles for which the Eng- 
lish people had fought in the great rebellion of the seventeenth 
century. They had a keener appreciation of liberty than any 
other people in the world. In England a designing monarch 
was intent upon making himself king in fact as well as in name, 
and the people seemed lethargic and forgetful of the fundamental 
principles of English liberty. The average English statesman at 
Westminster — and few there were that merited the name of 
statesman — could not accept the fundamentals of the American 
argument without condemning the practices of his country and 
ridiculing the whole representative system as it then existed. 
The colonists, on the other hand, cherishing the rights of 
Englishmen, demanded the substance and not merely the forms 
of self-government. Had these self-reliant people on this side 
of the ocean been pliant and obedient to laws they considered 
wrong and tyrannical, it would have been an evil day for popular 
government. It is sometimes said that the American Revolu- 
tion was conservative or preservative. Such it surely was; but 
it did more than save the principles of English liberty; it built 
them up and gave them a logical expression in the institutions 
of a free people made by themselves and changeable at their own 
discretion, and in the growth of free government resting on the 
people not only in America but in England. 

References 

Short accounts: Channing, United States of America, Chapter II; 
Hart, The Formation of the Union, Chapter III; Hinsdale, The 
American Government, pp. 52-63. Longer accounts: Fiske, The 
American Revolution, Volume I, pp. 1-120; Sloane, The French 
War and the Revolution, Chapters X to XIV; Hosmer, Samuel 
Adams, pp. 33-313; Tyler, Patrick Henry, pp. 32-135; Morse, 5e«- 
jamin Franklin, pp. 99-202; Lecky, The American Revolution, 176 j- 
1783; Howard, The Preliminaries of the Revolution; Channing, His- 
tory of the United States, Volume III, Chapters I- VI. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE REVOLUTION— 1775-1783 

During the winter and early spring of 1775, although there 

was no open violence, the feeling was intense. There was a 

sympathetic communication from colony to colony. 

Situation in ^.d^ch. felt the danger of the other. "We must fight" ! 

the beginning ...... ,, . , 

of 1775. exclaimed Henry m Virgmia; an appeal to the 

God of hosts is all that is left us". But there was 
still no outburst of uncontrollable excitement. There seemed 
to be a determination that the first blow must be struck by the 
British; for the war was to be conservative or preservative 
rather than destructive. Boston was almost in a state of siege; 
its business was thrown into much disorder; there were cases of 
suffering among the poor and the unemployed. The sullen 
persistence with which the people neither fought nor relented 
suggested that when war was once begun only success would 
end it. 

The New Englanders, under the lead of Massachusetts, were 
taking steps to bring about united armed resistance, when the 
war was actually precipitated by the action of the 
Lexington and English commaudcr. General Gage sent a detach- 
Aprii 19,' I77S. uicut to dcstroy stores which the Americans had 
gathered at Concord, a little village some twenty 
miles from Boston. The movement was discovered, the country 
was aroused, and when the advanced division of the British force 
reached Lexington in the pale gray of the early morning they found 
a squad of sturdy yeomen drawn up defiantly on the village green. 
Called upon to disperse, they refused ; and the regulars fired into 
the little company, killing seven and wounding several others. 
The English then proceeded to Concord and destroyed the stores. 
Meanwhile the provincials were pouring in from the surrounding 
country, and the British force began to retire. The retreat 

154 



THE REVOLUTION— 1775-1783 155 

became little better than a headlong flight. Franklin, in his 
humorous fashion, wrote to a friend that the British "troops 
made a most vigorous retreat, twenty miles in three hours — 
scarce to be paralleled in history — and the feeble Americans, who 
pelted them all the way, could scarce keep up with them". The 
news of this engagement spread like wildfire. Men grasped 
whatever weapons they had and hastened toward Boston. An 
army was soon gathered in the vicinity of the city, and the 
people of the colonies realized that, after ten years of excitement 
and vexation, war was at last begun. ^ 

The second Continental Congress met May lo. It became 
the central government of the nation, and continued to be so for 
six years. Washington was selected commander-in- 
Second chief of the "Continental Army." Preparations 

Congress. were made for the support of the troops. Washing- 

ton was then in the very prime of life — forty-three 
years of age, tall, stalwart, and strong. His experience in the 
French and Indian War, his undoubted military talents, the 
unqualified respect which all felt who knew him, coupled with 
„, . . the fact that the choice of a Southern general was 

Washington. . . " 

the imperative demand of common sense, made 
his selection the only possible one. It was a fateful moment 
when the question was under consideration. From that time 
the Revolution rested on Washington's shoulders. Had the 
task fallen to any other man the war would probably have been 
a failure; for he was not simply a great man, he was a great 
general, possessed of wonderful judgment and self-control, and 
yet capable of bold, quick, decisive action. The campaigns of 
the Revolution, which can be given here only in outline, prove 
that, in a century which boasted of some of the greatest com- 
manders in history, Washington won deserved renown as one of 
the ablest of them all. 



^ Early in May Ticonderoga was taken by the Americans. Crown Point 
fell a day or two later. The capture of these fortresses was important, be- 
cause the British were considering the advisability of talcing the line of the 
Hudson and cutting off from the other colonies the New Englanders, who 
were thought to be especially disaffected and rebellious. 



156 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



Before Washington could take command another battle had 
been fought. On the evening of the i6th of June a force of 
twelve hundred men under the command of 
June T7, 1775. ^oloncl Prescott pushed forward from the Ameri- 
can lines and took up a position on Bunker Hill/ 
an eminence on the Charlestown promontory. By morning, 
when they were discovered by the enemy, an embankment had 




Roxbury' j.*<.^^J # » 



Boston and Its Vicinity in 1776 

been thrown up, and the continuous bombardment from the 
English men-of-war was of no avail in driving the Americans 
from their position. General Gage determined to assault the 
works. The world knows the result. Beaten back in two 
desperate assaults, the British finally captured the redoubt when 
the provincials had run out of amriiunition. It was a victory 
dearly bought, and though the Americans were for the moment 
overcome by mortification, their brave resistance to disciplined 
troops was of great moral effect. 

Congress had appointed a number of generals and other 
ofi&cers at the same time that Washington was made commander- 



^ Breed's Hill, where the battle was fought, was in reality an extension 
of Bunker Hill, and connected with it by a ridge. 



THE REVOLUTION— 1775-1783 157 

in-chief. In addition to these warlike preparations, they sent one 
last petition to the king asking for a redress of grievances, and 
they also issued a declaration of the causes of taking up arms. 
The petition, of course, had no effect upon obdurate George III, 
who, on the contrary, issued a proclamation against the Ameri- 



C?ir.mtcrcf iJuppi.cs, Watcrtcwn, June i8, 1775. 
Gentiembv, 

THE VVcifiireof our Coi]r:ti7 apnin induces u<; to urge your 
excrlions in fending to the Mii^azinc in tliis place, what 
•can b« procured of the ibllowinj^^rttutf?. Salt Potk.Bcanj, 
Peas, Vinegar and Blankets, the prizes whereof as well as 
thcCarring (liall be allowed accoitttng to the Cudoin of your I'lace 
v.hichwe defireyou to certify — It is of the utinnft Importance thac 
the Aimylliould be fupplied agreeable to the I'cfoive of the Con- 
l;r fs more cfpecially with thefc Arcidcs, the four firft of which are 
neccfTi y for the i-ubfillence as well as the Health of the Men, and 
the other for their Comfort — Jhe occafion of the Deficiency in 
/ hfikcts is moftly owing to a ntimbf r of Men cniirted froni Bollon 
.ii'.d other Towns .which have been vacated, ard they al! mud be 
prociired immediately or our worthy CoimirjTiicn'wili fuffer.-r- 

As the Country afTurds every thing iri plcnry neccffjiy to fiibfin: 
the '.rmy, and we cannot at prcfenc obtain many things but by your 
^/Tlliancc, we afllircouifclvcs ilutyou will aa your puts as worthily 
a^ y;'a hav? done and hope thac the livcnc of all our. exertions will 
be tiic talvarinn of otir Country. 
7,0 the SelecfuKn Cctii Coi'mullcc 
of Conej'bijn-.kuri: j'jy 'J:^ Tov.'n 

'/ A , ^ , ..«w, t/A;.yfi^,^ D.\vi'> Ci.TFv'i!, pfr Ordcr of 
-/^,,^ Coniinitccc U' oupplies. 



.Vrpi;.\i. FOR Provisions, June i8, 1775 
From the Original Broadside in the Boston Public Library 

can traitors, and proceeded to hire foreign troops to put down 
the rebellion. Some twenty thousand -men were employed as 
mercenaries against the people in America, who were risking 
their lives for self-government and the rights of English- 
men. 

Washington took command of the Continental Army in 
July (1775). The men had come hurriedly together on the 
impulse of the moment, and lacked nearly everything needful 
for the long task that awaited them. Slowly, as the year went 



158 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

by, Washington made out of the raw miUtia an army. The 

lines were drawn more closely around Boston, and at the 

opening of the following spring (1776) entrench- 

°^^°^ ments were thrown up on Dorchester Heights 

evacuated, ^ '^ ° 

March, 1776. Overlooking the city. Bunker Hill had taught its 
lesson, and General Howe, who was now in com- 
mand of the British forces, evacuated the city (March 17, 1776). 
While the main body of the army was engaged about Boston 
a daring attempt had been made upon Canada. Richard Mont- 
gomery made his way north by the Lake Champlain 
Attempt to route and took possession of Montreal. He then 

1775. ' joined Colonel Benedict Arnold, who had pushed 

his way northward through the woods of Maine, and 
the united forces made a daring night attack upon Quebec. Mont- 
gomery was killed, Arnold was sorely wounded, and, in spite of 
the fiercest courage, the assault was unsuccessful. The Americans 
withdrew and Canada remained in the possession of England. 

The early part of 1776 was full of encouragement. The 
Virginians, fully aroused to hostility by the conduct of their 

royal governor, were quite ready for decisive 
Situation in action. In North Carolina the Scottish royalists 

early part of , . 

1776. were badly beaten.^ In June Sir Henry Clinton 
with the British fleet attacked Charleston and was 

beaten off. The continuance of hostilities, England's action 
in hiring German mercenaries to suppress the colonies, and the 
unremitting diligence of the radical leaders were making the 
people ready to announce independence. The sentiment in 
favor of total separation from the mother country had de- 
veloped with a slowness that seems remarkable when one con- 
siders that already war had been in progress a year or more. 

On June 7th Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, offered in 

Congress the resolution "That these United Colonies are, and 

of right ought to be, free and independent States". 

Declaration of rr-ii j i ^ • tj. • i* 

Independence. ^ ^^ debates Were vigorous. It was in connection 

with this debate and the repeated appeals for 

unanimity that Franklin perpetrated his famous witticism, 

^Moore's Creek, February, 1776. 



THE REVOLUTION— 1775-1783 159 

"Yes, we must indeed all hang together, or assuredly we shall 
all hang separately". No doubt the thought thus humorously 
expressed had its influence for harmony. The middle colonies, 
as yet unmolested and not feeling full sympathy with their 
Northern brethren, were inclined to hold back. But the people 
on the whole were found to be ready for the step. July 2, 1776, 
the resolution was adopted, and two days later the Declaration 
of Independence, drawn by Thomas Jefferson,^ was adopted, 
stating the reasons and the justification of the act. 

This declaration deserves careful study. The language is so 
well chosen and so dignified, its phrases are so harmonious, that 
it must always stand as a great piece of literature. It embodies^ 
too, a distinct statement of grievances; and, moreover, lays 
down the fundamental principle of democratic government — 
that all men are created equal, and that each man has the 
inalienable right to pursue happiness. And this means not that 
each man is as good and as strong as another, or that idleness 
and vice are as good as industry and virtue; but that every man 
has certain rights which no government can take away; it 
naturally involves the sentiment that no class of men, like the 
privileged orders of Europe, is entitled to peculiar care and pro- 
tection from government. Such sayings, which pass over your 
head and mine now as mere truisms, were revolutionary and 
radical one hundred and thirty years ago. 

Steps had already been taken in some of the States to frame 
State constitutions, to found a political order suitable to their 
new situation. This work, completed in some 
Constitutions cascs more quickly than in others, deserves special 
thought and attention; for this work, we might 
well say, was the revolution — the transformation of the colonies 
into commonwealths, the establishment of governments in 
accord with the wishes of the people, the assumption of power by 

1 See Morse's Jefferson, pp. 32-40. On July 5 some copies were printed 
and issued. Not till August 2 was the engrossed copy signed by the 
delegates. See Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, vol. vi, p. 
268. One member did not sign till November, 1776, and another not 
till 1 78 1. 




laaiT^^jfl^ 



i 







•?|j 'f 




THE REVOLUTION— 1775-1783 



161 



the men of Amer- 
ica in the States 
scattered along 
the ocean front 
from Florida to 
the Penobscot. 
In many respects 
it is true the 
changes were not 
marked; there 
was little or no 
destruction of the 
institutions which 
were the results 
of colonial 
growth ; two of 
the States, Rhode 
Island and Con- 
necticut, went on 
under their old 
charters. And 
yet it was, as we 
have said, of pro- 
nounced signifi- 
cance, because 
the new consti- 
tutions were 
founded on the 
people, and rec- 
ognized the ulti- 
mate political 
authority of the 
people. This is 
a great fact in 
human history; 
governments were 
no longer to be 




The Early Campaigns of the Revolution 



162 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



>'EW YORK 

AND VICINITY 

I77« 



1 /. W liiti FW 



the source of power, but the agents and the servants of the 
real governors, the people. 

As we look back now on the Revolution we see that the 
important fact was not the war, although it involved one-half 
of civilized mankind; it was not the separation from Great 
Britain, the mere breaking of the political or legal bond, although 
that was a fact of no small moment. The important fact was 
that in America a nation was Tended with a new ideal, and 
that certain theories of right were now made real by being as- 
serted in written documents and by being hardened in institu- 
tions of government. Some of these fundamental rights, sug- 
gested in the opening paragraph of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, were even more clearly phrased in other places and 

most notably in the Vir- 
ginia Bill of Rights, a 
noble public document. 
In these state papers 
there appears clearly the 
notion that governments 
are of limited authority 
and that there are certain 
essential rights of men 
which cannot be taken 
away.^ In the course of 
the Revolution the idea 
was plainly expressed that 
governments are the ser- 
vants, not the masters, of 
the main body of the 
people. 

From both a military 
and a political point of 
view the city of New 




1 The student will be interested in seeing what rights are laid down as 
fundamental in the constitution of his own State. Our present State con- 
stitutions, following earlier examples, contain in one way or another Bills 
of Rights. 



THE REVOLUTION— 1775-1783 163 

York and the line of the Hudson were of great importance. 
New York had a large number of British sympathizers, and 
there was some chance that through them the 
British prepare colony might be won for the king. The Hudson 
New York. Valley, if securely held, would separate the ever- 
active New Englanders from their less vehe- 
ment brethren of the Middle States. Washington, anticipating 
the desire of Howe to get possession of the city and the mouth of 
the Hudson, moved his troops from Boston to New York in 
April. His army was small and very poorly equipped, while 
New York was a place very difficult to defend. 

An English fleet with troops on board arrived at Staten 
Island in July. The army was commanded by General William 
Howe. His brother Richard, Lord Howe, was in 
fondiLuon Command of the fleet. The latter was charged 
with the task of making offers of conciliation and 
pardon. But he could accomplish nothing. Washington said 
there could be no pardon where there was no guilt; and, when 
the proposals were made known to Congress, Governor Trum- 
bull, of Connecticut, remarked: "No doubt we all need par- 
don from Heaven; but the American who needs the pardon of 
his Britannic Majesty is yet to be found". It was clearly too 
late to treat with the Americans as rebellious British subjects. 

Washington had posted a portion of his troops on Brooklyn 
Heights, hoping to hold the position. But the English out- 
numbered the Americans, and, moreover, could 
Battle of Long strike whcre they chose, while Washington must 

Island, August, . ■' ° 

1776. divide his forces to meet the enemy at various 

places. Howe decided to attack the troops on Long 
Island, and was successful in the battle. Many Americans were 
taken prisoners, and the remainder of the army was in a critical 
situation, for they were hemmed in and in danger of being 
captured to a man. Washington now executed one of the most 
brilliant manoeuvers of the war. During the night the whole 
force was ferried silently and stealthilyacross the East River to 
New York, leaving the British in possession of empty earth- 
works and a barren victory. 
13 



164 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

Driven from New York City, Washington skillfully and slow- 
ly retreated with his discouraged army. He was finally com- 
pelled to leave the vicinity of New York, and 
Retreat across j-j^g dreary, disheartening retreat across New Jersey 
autumn!^^T76. began. The American army was daily dwindling, 
for the soldiers lost heart when they were not vic- 
torious. In the early winter the little army of three thousand 
men crossed the Delaware into Pennsylvania. Had Howe the^i 
made a rapid march to Philadelphia it surely would have been 
taken, and the moral effect would have been so great that all 
hopes of resistance might perhaps have been abandoned; the 
Revolution might have been a failure. But Howe, pluming 
himself upon his success, left his troops, so as to guard Washing- 
ton completely, as he thought, and went back to New York to 
hear praises of his victories and enjoy the gayeties of the holiday 
season. 

But Washington was not yet beaten, nor utterly discouraged. 
Crossing the Delaware Christmas night, 1776, he surprised a 
company of Hessians at Trenton, and took a thousand prisoners 
and a thousand stands of arms. Then, retreating into Pennsyl- 
vania, he once more crossed back into New Jersey, where by a 
series of brilliant movements he completely outwitted General 
Cornwallis, who was the most competent com- 
Princeton, De- maudcr on the English side during the war, but 
cember, 1776, -^ho had reckoned without his host when he spoke 
January, 1777. complacently of "bagging the old fox". In the 
battle of Princeton Washington defeated the enemy, and then, 
though not daring with his small force to push ahead and 
capture their stores, he practically held New Jersey by taking 
the heights of Morristown. Thus in midwinter was fought an 
important campaign. The losses of the summer were in part 
retrieved. The American general showed a combination of 
caution with boldness and skill in strategy that proved him a 
general of marked ability. 

The experiences of this year of active warfare taught their 
evident lessons. It was plain that the struggle was likely to 
be long and desperate, and that something must be done to 



THE REVOLUTION— 1775-1783 165 

provide a suitable army, one with some degree of permanence, 
and not made up of militia that would melt away in the day 

of trial and discouragement. Washington was 
reparations clothed with almost dictatorial authority, but of 

course used his power with moderation.^ Through- 
out the winter he labored faithfully; but by the opening of 
spring his force was still small, and only by the most careful 
strategy and waiting could he hope to accomplish anything 
against his powerful opponent. The outlook was indeed dreary, 
but there was ground for hope; though Howe held New York 
and Eastern New Jersey, he was hardly further ahead than he 
was just after the battle of Long Island. 

The English Government now prepared to take a firm hold 
upon the country. They determined to get control of the 

Hudson River, and thus cut g3 New England from 
center 1777 ^ ^^^ Middle States. General Burgoyne was to 

march down from Canada, and Howe was to go 
north and meet him. Another force under St. Leger was to go 
up Lake Ontario to Oswego, take Fort Stanwix, and come down 
the Mohawk Valley. By some accident Howe seems not to 
have been ordered by the home Government to proceed with 
his troops up the Hudson ; but he ought to have known enough 
to go without explicit orders. Burgoyne began his southward 
march in June. At first he was successful. Ticonderoga was 

taken, and the news of his victory filled England 
mlrches^south ^^^^ »^^^ ^^^ Burgoync with undue vainglory, 
from Canada Soon, howcvcr, the danger of marching into an 

enemy's country began to be made more clear to 
him, for an American army was in front, and the militia were 
gathering behind him. He sent a detachment to Bennington, in 
what is now Vermont, to seize supplies; but the militia, under the 



^ In speaking of Washington's success at Trenton and Princeton, one 
ought not to forget Robert Morris, whose generosity and exertions to raise 
money made these victories possible. His executive ability was of great 
service to his country. He raised money on his own credit to aid Wash- 
ington. "During December and January he may be said to have carried 
on all the work of the continent" (Sumner's Robert Morris, p. 17.) 



166 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



command of doughty John Stark, simply annihilated the whole 
force. Aroused by this success, the country rose to check the 
invader, and it was soon apparent to Burgoyne that he was in 
a tight place. His army was growing weaker, and he was com- 
pelled to fight or starve; but fighting did not do him any good. 




The Surrender of Burgoyne 

A British cartoon from the original in the Emmet collection, New York 

Public Library 

His supplies were cut off, and while the American army grew 
stronger his own grew constantly weaker. He retreated to 

Saratoga, and there, surrounded, baffled, beset, 
a" Sa^ratcT a ^'^ ^^ Surrendered at discretion. Burgoyne's defeat 
Octobe.-, 1777. was inevitable, inasmuch as Howe had not gone 

north to cooperate with him. Gates, the American 
commander, won great applause, but as a matter of fact his 
conduct of the campaign was free from all merit, save that his 
very failure to act gave an opportunity for the enemy to be 
slowly weakened and overcome. 

Meanwhile St. Leger had met with discomfiture. In a 
fierce battle at Oriskany, the bloodiest contest of the war, a 
^^ ^ , detachment of Tories aided by Indians was 

St. Leger also 

defeated at defeated by a band of Americans under the brave 
Oriskany, old General Herkimer. Fort Stanwix could not 

ugus , I . ^^ taken, and finally, upon the advance of an 
army under Arnold, the British fled precipitately. 



THE REVOLUTION— 1775-1783 167 

Let us now turn southward and see what became of Howe. 
Washington expected to see him move northward; but he did 
Howe's ^ot- -^^ prepared to march across New Jersey- 

expedition to and capture Philadelphia; but Washington blocked 
Philadelphia. j^-^^ ^^^^ Worried him by superior strategy. Then 
Howe determined to sail for the "rebel capital". In August 
he appeared in Chesapeake Bay,i and began his march north- 
ward. Washington, trying to stop the British advance, was 
Battle of beaten at Brandy wine Creek, and the victorious 

Brandywine, enemy marched on to Philadelphia. Even now 
Sept., 1777. ^Yie heart of the American commander did not 
fail him. He determined to surprise the enemy at German- 
town, and he mapped out a plan of operations 
Germantown, ^]^j(.j^ jf successful, would havc Overwhelmed 

October, 1777. ' ' 

them. An attack was made in the early morning 
and was almost a success; but two advancing divisions lost 
their way in a dense fog, and one fired upon the other, thinking 
it was the enemy. So the surprise was a failure. 

And yet it was not a failure. It disclosed to the thinking 
men of America and to the onlookers in Europe the daring 

generalship of the man who thus in the face of 
Effect of defeat ventured to plan a bold assault with intent 

campaign on . '^ 

Europe. not Simply to annoy but to crush the army that 

had beaten him. European statesmen and mon- 

archs, who were watching the "rebellion" with utmost care, 

saw that the colonists could fight with great courage in the 

midst of defeat, and that the capture of the capital by no 

means meant that the war was over. 

For some time Benjamin Franklin had been at Paris as a 

commissioner from the United States, and had been working 
in his quiet, shrewd way to bring France to recog- 

'^mancr^'^'^ nize the independence of the United States and 
take part in the war. This France was not loath 

to do, for she was still smarting under her defeat in the Seven 

Years' War, and was longing for revenge for the loss of Canada. 

After the defeat of Burgoyne it was apparent that the Revolu- 

^ He landed his troops at Elkton. 



168 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

tion had good chances of success. France then made a treaty 
of alliance with the United States (February, 1778).^ In a 
short time Spain and Holland, too, were drawn, for their own 
reasons, into the war against Great Britain. Even before the 
French treaty a number of Frenchmen came over to help in 
what they considered a struggle for liberty. Chief among them 
was Marquis de Lafayette. Other foreigners came also, and 
one, Baron Steuben, a German, was of great service in organiz- 
ing and drilling the American troops. 

This winter, which brought the happy news of foreign aid, 
was a winter of suffering for the American army. It passed 

the dreary months at Valley Forge in destitution. 
y^lfLg °^^^' Washington did not leave his men and go home to 

live in luxury, but stayed to endure privation with 
them. Only he who reads his letters written during these trying 
times can appreciate his troubles and anxieties. The worst of 
it all was that the nation was not poverty stricken.^ The war 
had brought some hardships to the people, but the country had 
plenty of clothing and shoes and beef and flour. Why did the 
army not have them? In the first place many of the Americans 
were still loyalists and they did not like to give up money and 
food to "rebels". In the next place the General Government 

was inefficient. Congress had no power to levy 
hicoS^eten'^y* taxcs, it could ask for money, but not demand it. 

It was not well organized to act as a government, 

^ The end of the alliance was asserted to be to maintain the liberty, sov- 
ereignty, and independence of the United States, "as well in matters of 
government as of commerce". The United States guaranteed to France 
its "present possessions" in America, and all that it might acquire by the 
war; France, in its turn, guaranteed the liberty and independence of the 
United States, and all their possessions, "and the addition or conquests 
that their confederation may obtain during the war". At the same time a 
treaty of amity and commerce was agreed upon. 

^ It is on the whole a humiliating as well as an inspiring picture, — this 
brave Southern planter with his little body of shivering troops in Valley 
Forge, his courage strong, his larder half empty at the best, his soldiers 
cold, hungry, but devoted. The British troops and their merry officers 
were feasting in Philadelphia and enjoying warm houses and the pleasant 
sensation of having full stomachs. A humiliating if an inspiring picture, 
for why were the Americans hungry and cold? 



THE REVOLUTION— 1775-1783 169 

being in essence a convention of delegates. There were no 
proper executive authority and no judiciary, and a large body of 
men gathered together from different parts of the country waSs 
of course, singularly incapable of conducting a war with wisdom 
and economy. The executive work was first done by commit- 
tees, and afterward these committees became executive boards. 
Before the end of the war experience proved the desirability of 
having a single man in charge of each distinct department of 
executive work. But it was 1781 before the step was taken; 
then a Superintendent of Finance was appointed, and a Secre- 
tary for Foreign Affairs. 

There were other reasons for folly and inefficiency. Some 
of the members of Congress seem to have loved the intrigues of 
politics more than the work of providing for the army and hold- 
ing up the hands of its great leader. Moreover, there were 
jealousies and rivalries between the different States. The course 
of colonial history had taught the people to cherish their local 
governments and to repel any sort of dictation from without. 
Now the people were a nation, and all the States had a common 
interest; but real national patriotism and fervid devotion to a 
central government could come only as the growth of years. 
In November, 1777, Congress proposed to the States for adop- 
tion Articles of Confederation. These were not adopted by all 
the States for some time, and did not go into effect until 1781- 

In the summer of 1778 Sir Henry Clinton succeeded Howe, 
and Philadelphia was evacuated. The English army began its 
march across New Jersey to New York. Washing- 
Beginning of ^^^ followed cautiously and then pounced upon the 
ot^il^s^^^^^ enemy at Monmouth, and, had it not been for the 
dastardly conduct of General Charles Lee, who 
disobeyed orders and beat a shameful retreat, a complete 
victory for the Americans would probably have resulted. As 
it was, the British, much discomfited, withdrew in the night. 

After Monmouth, the English army, comfortably settled at 
New York, did not do much but stay there, as if it were dis- 
couraged or content with what it had, and from this time on, 
there were few conflicts of importance in the northern States. 



170 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

Washington captured Stony Point on the Hudson in the summer 
of 1779; but he spent most of his time from now to the end of 
the war in watching the British forces in New York.^ 

It would seem as if the American general had enough to do 
in holding his army together; for the soldiers were ill-paid or 
not paid at all and often in dire want; but to other 
Arnold" ° troublcs was added the treachery of Benedict 

Arnold, who entered into a plot to surrender West 
Point to the British. The British messenger, Major Andre, 
captured within the American lines with incriminating letters, 
was hanged as a spy, and Arnold fled to the lines of the enemy to 
reap his rewards in money and office." 

The Americans, however, during these years were doing more 
than wage an occasional battle with the British army; there 
was also fighting on the sea. Hardly had the war 
j° - * Jones, i^gg^j^ when privateers crept out of the New Eng- 
land ports, and soon their attacks brought dismay 
and anger to many a British ship owner. Then John Paul 
Jones appeared on the scene. In 1779 he had charge of a lit- 
tle fleet which hung around the British coasts, a constant 
annoyance to British shipping and a menace to the seaport 
towns. Jones dearly loved a fight, and he soon had one to 
his liking, for the duel between his flagship, the Bon Homme 

^ The winter of 1779-80 was a gloomy one in America. Washington 
wrote (January 8, 1780): "The present situation of the army, with respect 
to provisions, is the most distressing of any we have experienced since the 
beginning of the war. For a fortnight past the troops, both officers and 
men, have been perishing for want. They have been alternately without 
bread or meat the whole time; . . . frequently destitute of both ". 

See Ford's writings of George Washington, vol. iii, pp. 155-161, etc. 
The volumes are full of interest. 

- The story of Arnold's treason is a story of lasting and pathetic interest. 
He had been a good officer and a valiant leader. Washington had treated 
him with kindness and consideration; but Congress, to say the least, not 
with generosity. In command at Philadelphia for a time after the with- 
drawal of the English troops, he lived beyond his means, was surrounded 
with English sympathizers, who had had a fine and merry time during the 
British occupation, and gradually, burdened by debt and smarting under a 
sense of unjust treatment, determined to become a traitor. 



THE REVOLUTION— 1775-1783 171 

Richard^ and the English ship Serapis, was one of the bloodiest 
naval fights in history. The American vessel was victorious and 
Jones was the hero of Europe. "His exploits were told and 
told again in the gazettes and at the drinking tables on the 
street corners". 

No account of the Revolution — no matter how brief it may 

be — can omit the trials of the frontiersmen and the part they 

plaved in the conflict ; for in the back country were 

The West. r J ' _ -' _ 

Indians, often aided by Tories or a few English- 
men, ready to attack the outlying settlements, to burn, to 
pillage and to kill. The Wyoming Valley in northern Penn- 
sylvania and Cherry Valley in New York were the scene 
of horrible massacres, and, in 1778, General Sullivan marched 
into the region with an army and punished the Indians relent- 
lessly and thoroughly. 

But the most important events of the frontier struggle 
occurred in the Kentucky country and in the region north of the 
Ohio. For some years past hardy woodsmen had been moving 
into the great valley beyond the mountains, and building 
palisades and clustering log-houses in the dark forests. Their 
daily lives were spent in danger; but they seemed to know no 
fear; their trusty long-barreled rifles were never far from their 
hands; the axe for the trees, the hoe for the corn, the rifle for 
the Indians — these were the weapons by which the West was 
won for the white man. After the beginning of the Revolution, 
the frontiersmen were repeatedly attacked by parties of the red 
men from the north. 

Chief among these frontiersmen was George Rogers Clark, 
a daring spirit and a leader of men. Making up his mind not to 
rest contented with defense, he sought and pro- 
CtoT ^"^''' cured authority from Patrick Henry, then Gov- 
ernor of Virginia, to enlist men, and in the spring 
of 1 7 78 he made his way to Kaskaskia, an old French set- 
tlement in the Illinois country. This he captured and then 

^ Bon Homme Richard means good man Richard; a name taken in honor 
of Poor Richard's Almanac, a book of Franklin's filled with homely truths 
and wise, quaint sayings. 



172 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 




Clark's Campaign in the West 



took Vincennes in what is now Indiana. The British general 
at Detroit, the "hair-buyer", the man who was charged with 
buying scalps and inciting the Indians in their awful work, 
re-captured Vincennes. But Clark was not to be foiled or 

beaten ; with a little com- 
pany of courageous follow- 
ers he crossed from Kas- 
kaskia in the dead of 
winter — a terrible journey 
over prairies drowned in 
half frozen water — took 
Vincennes, and made 
Hamilton prisoner (1779). 
Thus in the West the 
frontiersmen did great 
things: they took posses- 
sion of a wide stretch of 
country, overawed the Indians, overthrew in part the English rule, 
and nailed the American flag to the log forts in the wilderness. 

In the latter part of the year (1778) the British, while 
still holding New York, turned their attention to the Southern 
States. Savannah was taken and then Charles- 
SouWi778-8o ^°^- Cornwallis took command of the British 
forces in the South and entered on a vigorous 
campaign. The patriots under Marion and Sumpter were 
fighting valiantly, but Gates, who was sent to confront Corn- 
wallis, began a career of incompetence, if not stupidity. On 
the 1 6th of August he was disastrously defeated in the battle of 
Camden, and, not waiting to make an orderly re- 
treat but leaving his army behind him, fled two 
hundred miles in three and a half days. 
The year brought one victory to the American arms. 
^3g,g In October a body of English and Tories was 

Mountain, beaten by a force of mountaineers and back- 

October, 1780. woodsmen in the battle of King's Mountain. ^ 

1 Read Roosevelt, The Winning of the West, vol. ii, pp. 241-295. A 
very interesting book. 



Camden, 
August, 1780- 




L 



Field of the Campaigns in the South 



174 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

At the beginning of 1781 no one would have dared to 
presage great victory for the American cause, or to expect 

the speedy close of the war. The English still 
Beginning of ^^^ ^^^ York; in the South, where Cornwallis 

was in command, there seemed little hope of 
anything like immediate success for the patriot army. Wash- 
ington, with praiseworthy self-control, remained in the North 
to guard against attack, and Greene took command of the troops 
in the South. Greene soon showed the qualities of a first-rate 
general, and proved that among the "American officers he was 
second to Washington alone. Cornwallis pressed vigorously 
northward and, though a detachment was overwhelmed by the 

Americans at the battle of Cowpens, he kept 
Cowpens, moving on, while Greene fell steadily back. In 

January, 1781. ° ' ; 

March was fought the battle of Guilford Court 
House. The English were on the whole victorious, but too 

much weakened to go farther. Cornwallis re- 
Guiiford Court treated to Wilmington, and seemed for the time to 
1781. ' ' have abandoned his northward movement. Greene 

at first pursued the enemy; then, turning abruptly, 
marched south into South Carolina. By the autumn the British 
forces in that State were shut up in Charleston, and the rest 
of the State was in the hands of the Americans. 

Cornwallis was puzzled by Greene's action. He decided, 
however, not to pursue him, but to go on to the North. He 

marched into Virginia. There he was baffled by 
The general Lafayette. ''The boy cannot escape me", he said; 
1781.' but the young Frenchman, then only twenty- three 

years of age, was wary and cautious, and Corn- 
wallis could not trap him. The situation, then, in the summer 
of 1 781 was this: Washington was at the North planning an 
attack upon New York City, which had been held since August ' 
of 1776 by the British; but he was furtively watching Virginia. 
Greene was in South Carolina. Lafayette was leading Corn- 
wallis a chase through Virginia. Now, tired of his unsuccessful 
pursuit and strategy, Cornwallis returned to the coast and 
occupied a strong position at Yorktown. 



THE REVOLUTION— 1775-1783 175 

Washington saw his chance. He found that he could have 
the assistance of a French fleet that was expected in the Chesa- 
peake. He abandoned his plan of operations 
surrender at against Ncw York and marched quickly to the 
Yorktovm, South. Almost before Cornwallis could realize 

c o er, 17 I. j^j^ danger he found himself shut up in Yorktown. 
Early in October the bombardment of the works began, and on 
the igth the besieged army surrendered, and filed out of its 
trenches as the band played an old English tune, "The world 
turned upside down". 

Upside down the world surely seemed. England had come 
out of the French and Indian War a great colonial power, 
glorying in her achievements, astonished at her 
^^j_ own success. The surrender of Yorktown meant 

the loss of her most promising and fruitful colo- 
nies. Every^vhere she was beset and humbled; but constitu- 
tional government was saved at home, saved by an insurrection 
in the colonies, saved by the loss of America. The King had 
set out at the beginning of his reign with a determination to be 
King indeed, and not the mere agent of Parliament. The Amer- 
ican war was in large part the result of his obstinacy and per- 
severance; he had succeeded in keeping in office men that were 
out of sympathy with the nation, and were at times not in har- 
mony with Parliament. In attacking the American principle, 
he had been attacking the fundamental principle of English 
liberty; and had he been successful on this side of the water, 
his success might have well proved fatal to the liberties of 
England itself.^ Upon the surrender of Cornwallis, Lord North, 
the Prime Minister, was compelled to resign, and a Whig 
ministry succeeded to power. From that day parliamentary 
government was safe in England.^ 



1 This is what Horace Walpole meant when he exclaimed, "If England 
prevails, English and American liberty is at an end." 

2 "The American Revolution was a step in that grand march of civilized 
man toward larger freedom and better political institutions which began in 
Europe in the fifteenth century, and has continued to the present day. This 
movement was felt in England before the American plantations were made. 



176 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



The war was now unpopular in England, and a treaty of 
peace was only a matter of, time. John Jay, Benjamin Frank- 
lin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Henry 
Sept ^ °i783^^' Laurens were appointed commissioners to agree 
upon terms of peace. Jefferson did not leave 
America, and Laurens took no important part. Adams was 
busy in Holland and did not appear in Paris until much of the 




Fraunces' Tavern, New York City 

Washington's quarters, November, 1783. The house in which he took leave 
of his oiBcers at the close of the war 

From Valentine's Manual, 1854 

work had been done. The task chiefly fell on the shoulders of 
two men — Franklin, a wise counselor, and Jay, a young man of 
probity, daring, earnestness, and skill. Negotiations began in 
the summer of 1782. The commissioners were instructed by 
Congress to counsel with the ''Ministers of our generous ally, 
the King of France", but soon after the beginning of negotia- 
tions Jay made up his mind that France wished to please 
Spain, who had entered the war as her ally, by preventing the 
United States from getting possession of the West, or at least 



. . . The American Revolution was the proper continuation of the English 
Revolution of 1642 and 1688." (Hinsdale, The American Government, 
P- 54.) 



THE REVOLUTION— 1775-1783 177 

by shutting off the Americans from a considerable portion of 
the Western country between the Mississippi and the Appa- 
lachians. Jay was determined that Spain should secure no hold 
on the West because of any double-dealing on the part of 
France, and he induced Franklin to disregard their instructions 
and carry on the negotiations without consulting the French 
Minister. When Adams came upon the scene he agreed with 
Jay. How far Jay was justified in his suspicions is still a matter 
of some doubt. But whether he was right in his belief, or not, 
the situation was such that the British commissioners, natur- 
ally not ill-pleased at the apparent break between our repre- 
sentatives and the French Court, were induced to treat liber- 
ally with the Americans, and they finally agreed to a treaty 
which was very favorable to the United States. 

A preliminary treaty was signed November 30, 1782, and 
a definite treaty the next September. The French ministers 
were themselves astonished at the success of the shrewd and 
bold American commissioners.^ The northern boundary of the 
United States was made to run from the St. Croix River to the 
highlands that divide the rivers that empty into the St. Law- 
rence from those that empty into the Atlantic, thence by the 
Connecticut River, the forty-fifth parallel, the main channel of 
the St. Lawrence, the middle of the Lakes to the Lake of the 
Woods. The boundary line then ran down the Mississippi to 
the thirty-first parallel, thence eastward to the Appalachicola, 
and on to the Atlantic by the line that now forms the northern 
amit of Florida. 

These boundaries seem definite and the descriptions suffi- 
ciently accurate; but as a matter of fact these were drawn at a 

time when men were very ignorant of the geogra- 
in°defiiUte!^ phy of the North and West. Many disputes 

arose in after years, and nearly sixty years 
elapsed before our northern and northeastern boundary was 
finally established. At this time England ceded the Floridas to 
Spain, meaning to convey the territory south of the boundary 

^ See Fiske, Critical Period of American History; McLaughlin, The 
Confederation and the Constitution, Chaps. I and II. 



178 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

agreed upon with the United States ^ — at least such was our 
interpretation of the cession. 

Thus the Revolution ended with the American people in 

possession of a vast domain stretching from the ocean to the 

Mississippi, a territory several times as large as 

A new nation. i i i r t^ 

^ France, or much greater than that oi any European 
power save Russia. Already there were visions of manifest 
destiny. The nation could not long remain a mere group of 
States scattered along the Atlantic coast. A great political and 
industrial future lay before it; but it must first find a proper 
method of national organization, must establish a suitable na- 
tional government, must recognize in very fact the existence 
of a national life. Before these great things could be accom- 
plished there were, as we shall see, years of confusion and times 
that tried men's souls. "The new-born republic narrowly 
missed dying in its cradle". 

References 

Hart, The Formation of the Union, Chapter IV; Sloane, The 
French War and the Revolution, Y)^. 179-388; Channing, The United 
States of America, pp. 72-107; Lodge, George Washington; Fiske, 
The American Revolution; Lodge, The Story of the Revolution; Van 
Tyne, The American Revolution; Channing, History of the United 
States, Volume III, Chapters VII-XII. Younger students will be 
especially interested in Fiske, War of Independence; Fiske, Washing- 
ton and His Country, which is a simphfied edition of Irving's Life of 
Washington; also Coffin, The Boys of 'yd. 

1 Inasmuch as England had some years before established a province of 
West Florida, the northern Hmit of which was about 32° 30/ Spain main- 
tained for some years that her possessions between the Appalachicola and 
the Mississippi extended up to this old boundary of West Florida. This 
matter was not arranged until 1795. 












/r/^ 
i^/ 



.Jro^ 













^.rtHL.'?^ . .^^lo^.;?^:^ 






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d!^ 



^^ 



/^J?/? 



^ 



'^nayf^r.^f^^ <.jB'.fL^ 



tji^'ii'^ 



I 



A Pack of Washington's Accounts 



13 



CHAPTER X 

THE CONFEDERATION AND THE CONSTITUTION— 

1781-1789 

During nearly the whole course of the war the Central 
Government was the Second Continental Congress. There was 
no written instrument defining the power of this body. It used 
such powers as it needed to use or was permitted to use by the 
people. During those years political institutions were forming. 
IVIen were learning valuable political lessons from experience. 
The powers that were exercised by the Continental Congress 
were in nearly every particular those that were confided to the 
central authority when the written articles of Confederation 
were agreed upon. 

In 1777 Articles of Confederation were proposed by Con- 
gress to the States, but they were not ratified by all until 1781. 

By these Articles was formed what purported to 
co^^remlion! ^^ a "firm league of friendship" between the 

States. The Central Government, if government 
it may be called, was a Congress composed of delegates annually 
appointed by the States, and to this body was given considerable 
authority. It alone had the right and power of declaring war or 
making peace, of sending or receiving ambassadors, of appoint- 
ing courts for the trial of piracies or felonies on the high seas, 
of regulating the alloy and value of coin, of fixing the standard 
of weights and measures, of "establishing and regulating post 
offices from one State to another". It also could build and 
equip a navy and raise and support an army, and make requisi- 
tion for troops upon the States. The Congress was authorized 
to appoint a committee to sit in the recess of Congress, to be 
known as a "Committee of the States". In this Congress each 
State had one vote; Delaware had quite as much voice as had 
Pennsylvania or Virginia. No step could be taken without the 

180 



THE CONFEDERATION AND THE CONSTITUTION 181 



consent of a majority of the States, and for many important 
measures the consent of nine of them was necessary. All the 
States must agree to an amendment or alteration in the Articles. 




THE 

<) UNITED STATES o 

^ AT THE END OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. O 
SHOWING WESTERN LAND CLAIMS OF THE STATES 1783 



This Congress stood forth as the representative of the Ameri- 
can people, and it had many duties and responsibilities; but 
there was no effectual means given of executing its laws or of 
raising the money which was so needful. No power was given it 
to collect taxes directly from individuals, or to levy duties on 



182 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

imports.. The only way to get funds was to ask the States for 
them. Moreover, Congress could not execute its 
laws directly upon the citizens of the States, or 
compel obedience to treaties with foreign nations. It could 
recommend and advise, but it could not execute; it was 
soon, therefore, in a condition where it could promise but could 
not perform. Without power over persons, it had no efficiency 
as a government. ^ 

Each State was now jealous in the extreme of any authority 
beyond its own borders. This narrow, selfish, short-sighted 
policy was due in part to the demoralizing influ- 
semshness ^ ^ cnccs of the war, in part to the fact that the war 
had been carried on against an external foe, and 
now in the eyes of many Congress had taken the place of 
King George. For some time after the peace local prejudices 
grew rankly. As a consequence, the requisitions and recom- 
mendations of Congress had little influence. The demands for 
money met with niggardly responses. Each State seemed 
anxious to exalt itself at the expense of the nation. The trouble 
of the time is well put forth in a letter of Robert Morris, who 
was now (1781-1784) acting as Superintendent of Finance, the 
first and the only man to bear that title in our history. " Imag- 
ine", he said, "the situation of a man who is to direct the finances 
of a country almost without revenue (for such you will perceive 
this to be) , surrounded by creditors whose disasters, while they 
increase their clamors, render it more difficult to appease them 
. . . ; a government whose sole authority consists in the power 
of framing recommendations". 

Under such circumstances great difficulties beset the im- 
potent Confederation. Foreign nations looked askance at the 

1 The Articles of Confederation asserted that each State retained its 
sovereignty. There may be some question as to whether they had the sov- 
ereignty to be retained; but that is a diiBcult problem about which stu- 
dents of history may well disagree. Certainly whatever be the theory held by 
the States concerning their own sovereignty and equal independence, no 
one of them felt that it had the power to stand actually alone and be really 
independent. While there were forces driving them apart and threatening 
the permanence of union, there was also a deep sense of interdependence. 



THE CONFEDERATION AND THE CONSTITUTION 183 

new combination of republics, and foreign princes were in no 

hurry to be gracious to the dangerous democracy which had arisen 

from rebellion against authority. Congress had 

Disorder in , i i • • • • t? i. 

foreign affairs trouble m raismg money m Europe even at enor- 
mous rates of interest; for who would trust a govern- 
ment without visible means of support? Spain refused to give 
up much of the Southwest and to allow the Americans free 
navigation to the Gulf — an important fact because settlers were 
now moving into Kentucky and Tennessee in great numbers. 
The treaty of 1783 was no sooner ratified than broken, both by 
England and America; for the States refused to obey the provi- 
sions of the treaty which provided that British creditors should 
find no lawful hindrance in the collection of their debts, and 
England, anxious to secure the fur trade and the Indian alliance, 
retained possession of the forts in the northern and western part 
of our territory. "We are one to-day", said Washington, "and 
thirteen to-morrow". No foreign government could respect a 
nation so organized. Washington, indeed, had early predicted 
"the worst consequences from a half-starved, limping govern- 
ment, always moving upon crutches and tottering at every 
step". 

But even more dangerous conditions appeared within the 

Union than without. T'he States were envious of one another. 

Each passed laws to increase its own commerce at 

Difficulties ^jjg expense of its neighbor's. The States with "no 

among the • ^ ^ r r • i 

States. convenient ports tor foreign commerce were sub- 

ject to be taxed by their neighbors through whose 
ports their commerce was carried on. New Jersey, placed be- 
tween Philadelphia and New York, was likened to a cask tapped 
both ends; and North Carolina, between Virginia and South 
Carolina, to a patient bleeding at both arms". ^ Difficulties 
arose between New York and New Jersey, between Connecticut 
and Pennsylvania, between Connecticut and New York, and 
between other States as well. " In sundry instances . . . the 
navigation laws treated the citizens of other States as aliens". 

^ From Madison, in the introduction to his notes on the Philadelphia 
Convention. Elliot's Debates, vol. v, p. 109. A valuable paper. 



184 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

There was actual danger of civil war among people who had just 
emerged from an eight years' struggle against a foreign foe. 

Within the respective States there were disorder and distress. 
The paper-money craze wrought havoc in some. A new race of 
speculators arose to make the most of the situa- 
tranquufity.*^ tion. People who had been rich found themselves 
poor; their farms were mortgaged or their trade 
was stopped, while perchance they had paper money by the 
bagful stored away in the attic. Business was so depressed that 
there were want and suffering. There were, to use Washington's 
words, combustibles in every state which a spark might set 
fire to. In Massachusetts, in fact, the fire broke out. There, as 
everywhere, a good many men were out of work or could find no 
money to pay their debts, and, as is customarily the case in 
times of distress, the idle and the vicious saw an opportunity to 
right their fancied wrongs. Several hundred men came together 
under the leadership of one Daniel Shays, an old Continental 
captain, who seems to have been a weak and inefficient creature, 
unfit to command or hold in check the rabble that followed his 
standard. Conflicts between the insurgents and the State 
troops ensued. The malcontents were especially bitter in their 
hatred of courts and lawyers and they prevented the various 
courts from holding their regular sessions. By the energetic 
action of the State government the uprising was finally quelled, 
but the people of the whole land feared and wondered. They be- 
gan to long for a national government with power, a government 
that could restore harmony between jealous States able to win re- 
spect abroad, establish justice, and insure domestic tranquillity. 

In considering the difficulties of the situation calmly now we 
see how difiicult it was to do the work of building up strong 
substantial institutions, at the end of a war which had been dis- 
tracting and had left a spirit of unrest behind it ; at the end of a 
war which had been waged to defend the liberty of the individual 
against government. The political talk that men had heard for 
years from the demagogue and the statesman alike had been in 
praise of liberty, and now the shallow-pated or the vicious 
thought the time had come to live up to the doctrine and to get 



THE CONFEDERATION AND THE CONSTITUTION 185 



along without the burdens of a disagreeable, strong-handed 
government. They did not see that a good, efficient govern- 
ment might protect reasonable liberty. And then, too, after 
the war was over, when the time of recuperation was at hand, 
the land needed the Loyalists that had been banished or that 
had gone to England or over to Canada in search of new homes 
for themselves. For we must remind ourselves again that the 
Revolution was in many ways a civil war; and the task, there- 
fore, of readjustment, when peace came, was naturally fraught 
with the difficulties that sprang from internal confusion and 
social overturning. 

Before studying the 
steps that were taken to 
organize a 
new govern- 
ment and es- 
tablish a permanent union, 
we must turn aside to no- 
tice the settlement of con- 
flicting claims of the States 
to Western lands. Even 
before the independence of 
the United States had been 
acknowledged by Great 
Britain there had arisen 
much discussion over the 
ownership of the territory 
west of the mountains. Six 



Western land 
claims. 




The Northwest Territory 

Showing the States afterward carved 
from it 



of the States — New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New Jersey, 
Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland — could set up no 
claim to this territory. Their boundaries were defined. The 
other States claimed lands stretching west to the Mississippi 
River. South of the Ohio there was no good ground for much 
dispute. Each State might take possession of the lands lying 
directly to the west; but to the lands north of the Ohio there were 
confficting claims. Massachusetts and Connecticut based their 
titles on their old charters. Each claimed a strip of land extend- 



186 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

ing through the Northwest. The land claimed by Massachu- 
setts formed a large portion of what is now Wisconsin and the 
lower peninsula of Michigan. The Connecticut strip was 
chiefly in what is now northern Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. 
New York set up a title to a vast territory in the West on the 
ground that she had received under her protection the Iroquois 
Indians and was lord of their domains. As scalping parties of 
these fierce warriors had wandered as far as the Mississippi and 
extorted tribute or homage. New York thus asserted ownership 
to nearly the whole of the Northwest. The claims of Virginia 
were strong. She based her title, first, on her early charter, 
which described her dominion as running up into the land 
"west and northwest"; second, on the fact that George Rogers 
Clark had won this territory, and that it was the pluck and 
enterprise of Virginia that had secured it. 

Some of the States, hemmed in by definite boundaries, had 

hesitated to agree to the Articles of Confederation because 

they feared the overweening influence of the others 

Western claims 1,1 1 • i 1 • ^ ^ 1 • • • ^i 

given up ^'^^ ^'^^^ ^'^^^ Claim to a great dommion m the 

West. Maryland was long persistent in her re- 
fusal to sign under such circumstances, and in fact did not do so 
until New York had yielded, and there was good reason to 
believe that all the other States would likewise relinquish their 
claims. Within a few years after the establishment of the 
Articles all the land northwest of the Ohio was ceded to the 
United States.^ Connecticut reserved a strip of land one hun- 
dred and twenty miles long south of Lake Erie. This was later 
given up by the State, but is still often called the "Western 
Reserve". Part of the territory south of the Ohio was ceded to 
the United States. At a later day Kentucky was organized as a 
State, without previous cession by Virginia.^ 

1 Connecticut had claimed a large portion of the northern part of Penn- 
sylvania. This, however, was decided to belong to Pennsylvania. The 
little triangular piece in northwestern Pennsylvania was later ceded to that 
State by the National Government. Massachusetts also laid claim to a 
portion of what is now New York. The two States came to an agreement 
about it, the jurisdiction passing to New York. 

^ North Carolina ceded Tennessee in 1790. 



THE CONFEDERATION AND THE CONSTITUTION 187 

These cessions of the West were of the utmost importance. 
Thus it happened that these various commonwealths forming 
the Confederation had a common interest in com- 
ceTsio'^" mon property, and this interest formed a strong 

bond of union when such ties were sorely needed; 
and thus it happened that almost from the beginning of our 
national history we have had a wide public domain. Moreover, 
it was understood that the people of this new West were not to 
be held in subjection, but when the population was large enough 
new States were to be admitted to the Confederation on an 
equality with the old."^ Thus arose the idea of our wise system 
with regard to the Territories. 

Soon after the cession of the Northwest plans for its govern- 
ment were discussed. In 1784 Jefferson submitted a plan for 
the government of all the Western country from 
0/1784°*^^^ its southern boundary to the Lakes. He pro- 
posed that slavery should not exist there after 
1800; but this part of his plan was not carried, though a ma- 
jority of the State delegations present in Congress at the time 
the vote was taken were in favor of it. The rest of the 
plan was adopted, but it was not put into operation. In 
1787 was enacted the famous ordinance for the govern- 
ment of the territory northwest of the Ohio. This pro- 
vided for the organization of government. The first 
officials were to be a governor, secretary, and three judges 
appointed by Congress; but, as the population increased, the 
people were to be allowed a representation in the Govern- 
, „ ment. Not less than three nor more than five 

and of 1787. 

States might be formed from the Territory and 
admitted to "a share in the Federal councils". Sound doc- 
trines of civil liberty were announced. No person was to be 
molested on account of his mode of worship or religious senti- 

^ Congress declared that these lands should be settled and "formed into 
distinct republican States which shall become members of the Federal 
Union". "From this lihe of policy", says Johnston, "Congress has never 
swerved, and it has been more successful than stamp acts or Boston port 
bills in building up an empire". (Lalor's Cyclopaedia, vol. iii, p. 916.) 



188 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

ments. Each citizen was entitled to the writ of habeas corpus 
and trial by jury. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, 
except as punishment for crime, was permitted; and the Terri- 
tory and the States which might be formed from it were to 
remain forever "a part of this Confederacy of the United States 
of America". It announced in telling phrase that "religion, 
morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government 
and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of educa- 
tion shall forever be encouraged". This is one of the wisest 
documents ever issued by a deliberative assembly. It had 
great weight in shaping later territorial organization and in keep- 
ing the dark tide of slavery from inundating the Northwest. The 
trials and failures of the dying Congress of the Confederation 
had been many, but the honor of this act rests with it. "I 
doubt", said Webster, "whether one single law of any law- 
giver, ancient or modern, has produced effects of more 
distinct, marked, and lasting character than the ordinance of 

1787". 

As we have already seen, while the discussion of the Western 
question was going on, the affairs of the nation were generally 

in a bad condition. It was apparent that America 
stronger Union ^^*^ ^°^ performed the political tasks that the 

very success of the Revolution imposed ; some form 
of national organization better than the Confederation was 
imperatively demanded. The old Congress had come into being 
at a time of urgent need; it had done what it could, and by its 
successes and failures had taught valuable lessons. The Articles 
of Confederation had attempted to grant to Congress some of 
the most essential powers of government, but the arrangement 
had been made early in the history of the war and the Articles 
at no time were a success as a working scheme. As the days 
went by, when once the war was over, it seemed to the anxious ' 
men of real intelligence and patriotism — men like Washington, 
Madison and Jay — as if the whole fabric of the Union would go 
to pieces, and the country, in distraction and helplessness, dis- 
credit free government and its own principles in the eyes of 
mankind. The country, to use Hamilton's words, presented 



THE CONFEDERATION AND THE CONSTITUTION 189 

an "awful spectacle"; there was a "nation without a national 
government". 

In 1786 the condition of the country was appalling. Spain 
was holding tight the mouth of the Mississippi, refusing the 

Western settlers access to the Gulf and a certain 

title to a large part of the Southwest. England 
was in possession of the posts on our northern frontier, with- 
in our territory. Tripoli, a piratical power in northern 
Africa, keeping American sailors in captivity, demanded a 
ransom for their surrender quite beyond the slender means 
of Congress. In Massachusetts a dangerous insurrection, 
threatening the very foundations of the Government, was in 
progress. The governments of seven of the thirteen States 
were in the hands of a party which believed in the issue of paper 
money, the passing of "stay laws" to prevent the collection of 
debts, and other schemes which were bound to increase the pre- 
vailing confusion. 

The outlook was discouraging enough; but in this dark year 
a movement was begun from which little was hoped and much 

came. There had long been a desire on the part 
convention" *^ of Maryland and Virginia to reach an agreement 

concerning the navigation of their adjacent 
waters. A conference was held, and from this came a desire 
for a more general understanding among the States. Finally 
Virginia, under the influence of James Madison, proposed a 
meeting of delegates from all the States at Annapolis in Sep- 
tember (1786). The meeting was held, but only five States 
were represented. The delegates adopted resolutions drafted 
by Hamilton, asking for a conference to be held at Philadelphia, 
the second Monday in May, 1787, "to take into consideration 
the situation of the United States, to devise such further pro- 
visions as should appear to them necessary to render the Con- 
stitution of the Federal Government adequate to the exigencies 
of the Union". 

In May this convention met; a number of the delegates 
came late, but finally all of the States were represented save 
Rhode Island. It was plain that the serious condition of 



190 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

the country had wrought well on the public mind, for the dele- 
gates were the able, wise, vigorous men of the land. Some, 

it is true, were still young in years, but even these 
^onve^^tfon wcrc Competent leaders among their fellows. 

Among the ablest were Washington and Frank- 
lin — both of whom, by virtue of their long unselfish public 
service, had wide influence — James Madison of Vi ginia, 
James Wilson and Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania, Roger 
Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut, Alexander 
Hamilton of New York, and Rufus King of Massachusetts. 
Washington was chosen president of the assembly. The con- 
vention lasted four months, its members often despairing of 
success. So many differences arose that it seemed at times 
impossible to reach a reasonable conclusion. The great influ- 
ence of Washington and Franklin contributed to harmony. It 
was determined at once to establish a government with supreme 
executive, legislative, and judicial departments. The adoption 
of this resolution meant that the convention did not intend 

to patch up the Articles of Confederation, but to 

found a real national government with power to 
act — to form a Constitution whose efficiency should not depend 
on the whim or caprice of the States. 

The first difficulty arose over the question of representation 
in the Legislature of the new Government. Many of the dele^ 

gates from the small States in this convention 
^™t^y* ^*^^^ seemed merely solicitous for the dignity of theit 

respective States, and anxious to preserve them 
from attack by securing to them the same weight in national 
councils as had the larger States; but many of them wished even 
more than this, and demanded that the principle of the Confed- 
eration be perpetuated so that the Central Government should 
continue the creature of the States, which would thus form the 
basis of the new order as they had of the old. This Small 
State party demanded that each State should have as many 
representatives as every other. 

On the other hand, the so-called Large State party, led by 
Madison, Wilson, Gouverneur Morris, and King, insisted that 



THE CONFEDERATION AND THE CONSTITUTION 191 

the basis of the new Government was not to be the States, but 
the people, and that the States therefore should send repre- 
sentatives to the Congress of the new Government 
partT **** ^^ proportion to their population. It was wrong 
and illogical to give Delaware as many repre- 
sentatives as Pennsylvania or Virginia. Thus we see that a 
real fundamental question of principle was involved, The 
extremists of the Small State party desired, in reality, a confed- 
eration of equal States; the Large State party struggled for a 
government based upon the people. Therefore we might be 
justified in calling one party the State party, the other the 
National party. ^ /' 

The contest between these two factions was long and severe. 
At times it seemed as if there could be no agreement. " Gentle- 
men", exclaimed Bedford, of Delaware, "I do not 
^-!™fH;=^ trust you. . . . Sooner than be ruined, there are 

compromise. -^ ' 

foreign powers who will take us by the hand". Bj^v 
a vote of six to five the convention decided in favor of propor- 
tional representation in the more numerous branch of the 
legislature. But it was impossible for the Large State party 
to secure that basis for representation in the other branch. 
A compromise was at length agreed upon, whereby each State 
was to have two senators, while the House was to have the 
right to originate all bills for raising revenue. Thus was 
formed the first compromise of the Constitution. 

The student should see clearly the real controversy, the 
real difference between the Large State men and the Small 
State men. The former were for a government based on the 
people, receiving its power directly from the people, and touching 
the States as little as possible. The Small State men were in 
part divided: they all wanted equal representation of the States; 

^ The States that voted for proportional representation (the Large State 
party) were Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, South 
Carolina and Georgia. Of these the first three were really large states 
in population. Five States voted against proportional representation: 
Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. New 
Hampshire came too late to take part in the first critical vote. 



192 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

but some of them were not opposed to a national government, 
while others desired to preserve the principle of the Confederal 
tion — to maintain the equal sovereignty of the States. 

But after this first and important agreement on the subject 
of representation and the character of the new Government 

had been reached, there remained many other 
avery causes (difficulties to be Overcome. These arose largely 

from the fact that the industrial interests of the 
Southern States were essentially different from the Northern, 
the former being built upon slave labor, the latter upon free. 
It stands to the everlasting credit of Madison, Mason, and 
others from Virginia that they denounced slavery and the slave 
traffic; but the delegates from the States of the far South were 
anxious for more slaves and to have slavery fully protected. 
Another question arose: Should slaves be counted in determin- 
ing the basis of representation of the States, or should they, 
since they were held as property, be no more taken into account 
than the sheep and oxen of the Northern farmer? Again, the 
Southern States generally were, to use Mason's words, "staple 
States" — that is, they raised raw material and exported a large 
part of it. They feared that, if Congress were given authority 
to regulate commerce, the power would be used to tax exports 
and destroy Southern trade. These differences were finally 
settled by various bargains or compromises. 

In determining the basis of representation and of direct 
taxation, it was decided that five slaves should count as three 

freemen.^ Slaves were to be admitted until the 

Compromises. ^ r^ i • i • r-\ 

I St of January, 1808, but m the meantime Con- 
gress should have power to levy a duty of ten dollars on each 
person so imported.^ Congress was given full authority to 
regulate interstate and foreign commerce, but was prohibited 
from levying an export duty.^ 



^ See the Constitution, art. i, sec. 2. 

^ Ibid., art. i, sec. 9, § i. 
Ibid., art. i, sec. 9, § 5. The importation of slaves till 1808 was 
sufficient to fasten the slavery system permanently on the South. Doubt- 
less without importation it would have been difficult to root out the system. 



Constitution 
agreed upon. 



THE CONFEDERATION AND THE CONSTITUTION 193 

The Constitution was signed by delegates from all the 
States represented in the convention on the 17th of September, 
but not by all the delegates. Three who were 
present refused to sign; thirteen had left during the 
course of the convention. Only thirty-nine, 
therefore, out of the fifty-five members gave their final consent. 
When such evidences of differing opinions appeared in this 
assembly of wise men, what hope could there be of the success of 
the Constitution when discussed before the people? It was laid 
before the Congress of the Confederation, and was then sub- 
mitted by this Congress "to a convention of delegates chosen in 
each State by the people thereof". 

Ei^htb Federal PILLAR reared. 




From the Independent Chronicle and Universal Advertiser, Boston, 
Thursday, June 12, 1788 

The new Constitution was essentially different from the 
Articles. The new Government was not to be the agent of 

the States and dependent on State generosity 
character!'^ for funds, or on State humor for obedience. It 

was to spring from the people and to have power 
over the people. The preamble of the Constitution states 
that "we, the people, ... do ordain and establish this Con- 
stitution". The laws of the Government were to be 
direct commands to persons. It could raise money with 
its own machinery and compel obedience with its own officers. 
Great political powers were given to the new Government, 
powers general in their nature, such as the right to make peace 
or war, conduct negotiations with foreign governments, raise 



As to the effect of the three-fifths compromise, see Gay's Madison, pp. 
99, 100. 



194 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



armies and equip navies, establish post offices and post roads, 
regulate commerce among the States or with foreign nations. 
All power was not bestowed on the National Government, but 
only certain enumerated powers; the rest belonged to the States 
or to the people, unless the Constitution forbade their use by 
any governmental authority. There were thus created imme- 
diately over every citizen two governments, occupying each a 
different sphere of political action, and each having power to 
order and compel obedience. The distinguishing feature of 
this new republic was this distribution of political authority 
between the Central Government on the one hand and the com- 
monwealths that composed the Union on the other. 



The Ninth PILLAR erected ! 

•The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, Ihall be fuffitient forthe eltahlift; 
ment of this Conftitution, between the States fo ratifying the fame" Art. vii. 

INCIPIENT MAGNl PROCEDERE MENSES. 

g3"If It IS not up ^-<^T\ The Attraction muft 
U P\£ be itnliHiUo 
it will rife. /"»*rfS^ 




Its form. 



From the Independent Chronicle and Universal Advertiser, Boston, 
Thursday, June 26, 178S 

Moreover, the form of the new Government was different 
from that of the old. Power was divided between separate 
departments — legislative, executive and judicial — 
and each department was to be in large measure, 
independent of the other. A single person, the President of 
the United States, was given executive authority. Ji^e ex- 
periences of the confederation had taught that -one man 
can execute the laws more vigorously and sensibly than 
many. The legislative power was intrusted to two bodies 
of nearly equal power, that one might act as a check and a bal- 
ance to the other. An independent judiciary was provided for, 
the judges to be appointed by the Executive with the advice 
and consent of the Senate, to hold office during good behavior. 



Ratified by 
the States. 



THE CONFEDERATION AND THE CONSTITUTION 195 

Thus the separation of the powers of government, which was 
thought to be essential for the preservation of hberty, formed 
an important part of the new plan.^ 

Conventions were summoned in all the States, save obstinate 
little Rhode Island, to pass upon the new Constitution. The peo- 
ple of eleven States ratified it before the end of 1788. 
This decision, however, was reached only after pro- 
longed discussion and debate. In some of the States 
the outcome was doubtful almost to the end. Virginia, Massa- 
chusetts, and New York were the most doubtful States. Here the 
Constitution had formida- 
ble opponents and no less 
able defenders. The rati- 
fication in the New York 
convention was due, large- 
ly, to the eloquence and 
able statesmanship of 
Hamilton. During the dis- 
cussion, Hamilton, Madi- 
son, and John Jay wrote a 
series of articles for the 
press, on the character of 
the Constitution. These 
papers, gathered into a 
volume called the Fed- 
eralist, constitute a great 
work on the science of 
government, one of the 
most famous books ever 
written in America. 




Distribution of Population in 1790 



1 Students of history and of politics believed that the powers of govern- 
ment should be classified according to their nature, and that the same body 
should not be possessed of two essentially different kinds of power. "If it 
be", said Madison, "a fundamental principle of free government that the 
legislative, executive, and judiciary powers should be separately exercised, 
it is equally so that they be independently exercised". (Madison's Journal 
of the Convention, July 19th.) 



I 



196 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

Some of the State conventions would have rejected the 
Constitution had its supporters not agreed that after the organ- 
ization of the new Government amendments should be added 
in the nature of a bill of rights to guard against tyrannical 
action on the part of the central authority. The first ten 
amendments to the Constitution were afterward agreed to in 
accordance with this understanding.^ North Carolina did not 
become a member of the new Union till November, 1789. 
Rhode Island gave up her pretensions to independence in 1790. 

The Constitution thus established was in one sense not a 
new creation. It was more than the outcome of a conference of 
wise men. It was the result of experience, and was 
of histor ""^^ ^^ itself a growth. Its main characteristics were 
the products of time. The very failures of the 
Confederation had shown the proper basis. In the de- 
tails of the machinery of government there was little that was 
absolutely new. The framers drew from the history of other 
nations, from their knowledge of the English law and institu- 
tions, but most of all from their political experience. A large 
part of the new instrument was taken, with slight change, "from 
one or another of the State constitutions, which, we must re- 
member, were in part built on colonial charters or based on 
colonial practices. This fact, however, does not detract from 
the wisdom of the framers of the federal Constitution. They 
were at once scholars and men of affairs, students of history and 
of practical politics. The goodness of their handiwork resulted 
from their wise appreciation of the teachings of the past and the 
clever joining together of the best and safest material that the 
tide of history brought to their feet.^ 

^ The first ten amendments were declared in force December 15, 1791. 
They are restrictions on the power of the National Government, and do no'- 
bind the States. 

~ "The American Constitution is no exception to the rule that ever)^- 
thing which has power to win the obedience and respect of men must have 
its roots deep in the past; and that the more slowly every institution has 
grown, so much the more enduring is it likely to prove. There is little in 
the Constitution that is absolutely new. There is much that is as old as 
Magna Charta". (Bryce, The American Commonwealth, vol. i, p. 29.) 



THE CONFEDERATION AND THE CONSTITUTION 197 

References 

Hart, The Formation of the Union, pp. 102-135; Walker, The 
Making of the Nation, pp. 1-73; Morse, Alexander Hamilton, Chap- 
ters III and IV; Lodge, George Washington, Volume II, Chapter 
I; Pellew, John Jay, Chapter IX; Tyler, Patrick Henry, Chapters 
XVII-XIX; ScHOULER, ZTw/orj, Volume I, pp. 1-74; ¥is,k^, Critical 
Period; McMaster, History of the People of the United States, Vol- 
ume I, Chapters I-V; Channing, History of the United States, Volume 
III, Chapters XIII-XVIII; McLaughlin, The Confederation and 
The Constitution; McLaughlin and Hart, Cyclopedia of American 
Government, Articles "Convention", "Bills of Rights", etc. 



14 



CHAPTER XT 

ORGANIZATION OF THE GOVERNMENT— THE FEDERAL- 
IST PARTY IN CONTROL— 1789-1801 

The Congress of the Confederation made the necessary 
arrangements for ushering in the new Government and then 
expired.^ The election of President was ap- 
SThe"'^"^''' pointed for the first Wednesday in January, 1789, 
Government. the meeting of the electors for the first Wednesday 
in February, and the inauguration of the Govern- 
ment and the real beginning of the new order for the first Wednes- 
day in March. It happened that the first Wednesday in March 
fell on the 4th of that month, and thus it came about that March 
4th is the day when a new President and a new Congress assume 
the duties of office. As a matter of fact, however, Congress did 
not assemble at the appointed time. Its members leisurely came 
together in New York, where the Government was to be organ- 
ized, and there was not a quorum of the House of Representa- 
tives till the first of April, or of the Senate till some days later. 
When the votes for President were counted in the presence 
of the two houses, it was found that Washington had been 
unanimously elected President, and that John 
Washington Adanis, having received the next greatest number 
inaugurated. of ballots, was elected Vice-President.^ Washing- 
ton's journey from Virginia to New York was a long 
triumphal progress. The people gathered everywhere to pay a 

^ The confederate Congress continued in formal existence till March 2, 
1789. "It then flickered and went out without any public notice". One 
of the men at the time said it was hard to say whether the old government 
was dead or the new one alive. 

^ By the Constitution as it then was, each elector cast two votes without 
designating which was for President and which for Vice-President. Con- 
stitution, art. ii, sec. i, §3. 

198 



FEDERALIST PARTY IN CONTROL— 1789-1801 199 




r 



reverent respect to the man whose greatness was deeply felt and 
honored. Not till the 30th of April did he take the oath of oflEice. 
The place was the Senate balcony of Federal Hall. The scene was 
an impressive one. One of the greatest of the world's great men 
consecrated himself anew to the 
service of his country, and en- 
tered upon the duty of giving 
life and vigor to the new Gov- 
ernment of the young nation. 
After the oath had been taken 
Washington read to Congress, 
assembled in the Senate cham- 
ber, his inaugural address. "It 
was very touching", we are told 
by a spectator, "and quite of 
the solemn kind. His aspect 
grave almost to sadness; his 
modesty, actually shaking; his 
voice deep, a little tremulous, 
and so low as to call for close 
attention; added to the series 
of objects presented to the mind and overwhelming it, pro- 
duced emotions of the most affecting kind upon the members". 
Even before the inauguration the House had entered ear- 
nestly upon the work of legislation. The great need of the new 
Government was money, and so the House began 
Congress ^^ ^^^^ ^j^^ Consideration of a tariff bill. One was 

begins 

legislation. passcd early in the summer and a national income 
was thus secured. It proved in a short time to be 
inadequate, and the duties were increased. This and other 
means of obtaining money soon gave the Government dignity 
and won it respect. 

But much besides the raising of funds was necessary to put 
the new Government into running order. The Constitution, 
general in its provisions, did not outline in detail the forms 
and methods that must be followed in giving it effect. Many 
new offices must be established and their duties declared. The 



y^^'^p^ *y^c^ 



200 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

experiences of the war and the Confederation had shown the 
value of single administrative officers and the Constitution 

provided that the President could "require the 
departments Opinion, in writing, of the principal ofl&cer in each 

of the executive departments, upon any sub- 
ject relating to the duties of their respective offices". ^ Con- 
gress now passed bills to form three such departments — State 
(at first called Foreign Affairs), Treasury, and War. The Post 
Office was continued on its old footing, and the office of Attorney- 
General was established. This officer soon became an important 
person in the administration because of his duty to give the 
President legal advice, but he was not at first at the head of 
what was strictly an executive department. 

To the offices thus established Washington appointed able 
men. Thomas Jefferson, then absent in France, was upon his 

return made Secretary of State, assuming the 
^^^Stmerts. duties of the office in 1790. The Treasury port- 

folio was given to Alexander Hamilton, then a 
young man hardly more than thirty-two years of age, possessed 
of wonderful executive ability, with a strong grasp of details 
and a firm comprehension of principles. He had long been 
interested in the disordered finances of the Confederation, and 
Washington thought him the man to bring order out of the 
confusion that everywhere prevailed. For this task he was 
specially qualified. All matters seemed to take form and 
arrange themselves in passing through his mind. His task was 
a difficult one. "Finance"! said Gouverneur Morris to Jay at 
one time; "Ah, my friend, all that remains of the American 
Revolution grounds there". The fate of the Constitution 
seemed to depend upon the success with which order was brought 
out of the disorder that had been inherited from the war and the 
critical period. Henry Knox, an excellent officer and an able 
man, head of the War Department under the Confederation, 
was made Secretary of War. Edmund Randolph was appointed 
Attorney-General. 

^ Constitution, art. ii, sec. 2, § i. 



FEDERALIST PARTY IN CONTROL— 1789-1801 201 



We must remember that the Constitution does not provide 
for a Cabinet, but simply speaks of executive departments. 
In fact, even the English Cabinet was not so 
The American clearly defined then as now; its functions were 
not so evident and well understood. So that we 
ought not to expect that, inasmuch as the Amer- 
icans had had no experience with a Cabinet, the heads of the 
executive departments would be formed at once into a single 



Cabinet a 
growth. 




View of the Old City Hall, Wall Street, in the Year 1789 



body, bent on carrying out a well-recognized policy. At the 
present time the members of the President's Cabinet meet to- 
gether at intervals; in these meetings great questions of state 
are discussed, and it is thought desirable that there should be, 
in a very general way, harmony and cooperation, at times 
even a definite Cabinet policy. This state of things is, how- 
ever, the result of growth. No such condition existed in 1789 — 
indeed was hardly possible — for as yet there were no political 
parties with a distinct program of action. Washington some- 
times called the heads of departments together for consul- 
tation, sometimes asked for their individual opinions in writing, 
or -""or the advice of one alone, but gradually during his presi- 



202 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

dency the practice grew of having matters discussed by the 
Secretaries of State, War, and Treasury and the Attorney- 
General. 

As it turned out, the chief places in Washington's adminis- 
tration were held by men who by training and temperament were 
quite diverse. Two opposite tendencies in political 
Different j^£g Were represented in it. On many questions pre- 

elements in the ^ . i rr i 

Cabinet. scnted for discussion Hamilton and Jefferson took 

different positions. With the former Knox was 
likely to agree, while Randolph as a rule agreed with his fellow 
Virginian, the Secretary of State.^ Jefferson was a man of 
great ability, and was a statesman of wide powers. He was 
strongly democratic in his sympathies, believing that the people 
at large were the purest and safest source of political power and 
opinion. He was given to sentiment, if not to sentimentality, 
and he was not always strong as an administrator. During his 
political career in Virginia he had attacked the aristocratic 
institutions of the colony and State, and he now had no sympa- 
thy with governments or organizations whose tendency was to 
check free growth and free thinking. He played no such part 
as Hamilton and Washington in bringing about order and system 
and establishing the new Government. His greatness lay in the 
fact that he appreciated the sentiment or spirit of popular 
government, a spirit that was destined to be the ruling force in 
the great republic which was then organizing itself for effective 
work. In this sympathy he was opposed to many men of that 
time who believed with John Adams that "the rich, well-born, 
and the able" were qualified to rule. While Hamilton was not 
entirely out of sympathy with popular government, he repre- 
sented the conservative elements of the nation. His power was 
in administration, in bringing order out of disorder. He had no 
fear of an energetic and efficient government, and felt keenly 
the necessity of such government after experience with the dis- 
cord and turbulence of the critical period. 

1 Jefferson once complained that two and one half men opposed one and 
one half — i. e. Hamilton, Knox and a half of Randolph were one side, and 
Jefferson and the other half of Randolph on the other. 



FEDERALIST PARTY IN CONTROL— 1789-1801 203 

At the first session of the First Congress Federal courts 
were established. Besides the Supreme Court, Circuit and 
District Courts were provided for. All cases 
established ^^^^ Under the Constitution might come under 
Federal jurisdiction were not confided to these 
courts alone, but the State courts were allowed concurrent 
jurisdiction in many cases. To avoid obscurity and confusion 
by differing interpretations of national laws, and to avoid the 
possibility that the effect and nature of Federal statutes should 
be permanently decided by the State courts in such a way as to 
detract from the power and efficiency of the National Govern- 
ment, provision was made for an appeal from the Supreme 
Court of a State to the Supreme Court of the United States in 
certain kinds of cases — cases in which the State judges were 
said, by the person carrying the case to the Federal Court, not 
to have recognized and given full effect to the constitution or 
laws of the United States.^ By this method the supremacy of 
national law was to be secured.^ The Federal courts are to-day 
arranged on the same general plan as that outlined in this 
famous statute, which was largely the work of Oliver Ellsworth, 
of Connecticut. The first chief justice appointed was John 
Jay, a man of rare purity and sweetness of character, with good 
legal knowledge and a wide experience in affairs of State. 
The peculiar duties of our first justices demanded the wisdom 
of the statesman even more than the learning of the lawyer. 

Hamilton set about the task of bringing order into the 

deranged finances of the country. Upon request, he prepared 

a report and submitted it to Congress at its 

' second session. He showed that the debt of the 

United States was about fifty-four million dollars, including 

arrears of interest — a vast sum for that day. He proposed to 



^ The Constitution provides for one Supreme Court and other courts 
that Congress may establish (see Constitution, art. iii). Congress, however, 
needed to provide for the Supreme Court also by providing how many 
judges there should be, what their salaries should be, and how matters- 
should be brought up to the court from lower courts. 

^See the Constitution, art. vi., § 2. 



204 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



T«,s 



issue new certificates of indebtedness, and to receive in payment 

the old evidences of indebtedness. The new certificates were to 

be issued on more favorable terms 
to the Government than the 
old. It was resolved by Congress 
to pay in full the debt which 
we owed abroad; but many ob- 
jected to paying the home debt 
in full, because the paper had been 
so depreciated that a payment at 
face value would simply pour 
loads of dollars into the hands of 
speculators who had bought up 
the old paper. Hamilton, how- 
ever, argued for straight down- 
right honesty, without distinction 
of persons. He believed that the 
Government promises to pay 
should be redeemed in full. A 
bill was finally passed by Con- 
gress providing for the payment 

of the domestic as well as the foreign debt in substantial 

accord with Hamilton's suggestions. 

Hamilton proposed at the same time that the State debts 

should be assumed and paid by the National Government, on 
the ground that they were actually incurred in 

Assumption and -i i ij- r ,i i t-iu* i ^ 

the capital. behalf of the commonweal. Ihis proposal met 
with vigorous objection, and a bill for the purpose 
was defeated at this session. About the same time, how- 
ever, there was great discussion over the location of the 
permanent capital. This seems a trivial matter, but men 
became very much excited about it as if the fate of the 
nation were at stake in the decision. Finally a bargain 
was struck. Hamilton secured Northern votes for a South- 
ern capital, and Jefferson was instrumental in securing 
Southern votes for assumption of the State debts, a measure 
more favored by the Northern and Eastern than the 




FEDERALIST PARTY IN CONTROL— 1789-1801 205 

Southern States. The site on the Potomac was soon afterward 
selected. 

Among other plans of Hamilton were the laying of an excise 
and the establishment of a national bank. At the final session 
of the First Congress (winter of 1790-91) such 
measures were proposed. There was bitter oppo- 
sition to the excise, for it seemed to many that the secretary, in 
order to magnify his office and to exalt national power unduly, 
was striving to obtain all sources of taxation for the Federal 
Government. The bill was finally passed after a sharp debate. 
It provided for a tax on liquors, and it was humorously sug- 
gested that it would be like "drinking down the national 
debt". 

Hamilton advocated a bank, on the ground that it would 
be of assistance to the Government in borrowing money and 
carrying on its financial business, and that it 
would be of service in furnishing a circulating 
medium. The plan caused great discussion in the House. 
Hamilton's financial measures had already won him a devoted 
following, but a strenuous and vigorous opposition was now 
forming. Madison was its leader. He had favored the excise, 
but he now argued strongly against the bank bill. The main 
argument of its opponents was that it was unconstitutional, 
that the Federal Government had not been given the authority 
to establish a corporation. A bill in practical agreement with 
Hamilton's proposals was at length carried through both 
houses. It provided for a bank with a capital of ten million 
dollars. The Government was to be a stockholder, and sub- 
scriptions to a large portion of the stock were to be made in 
United States bonds. The effect of this would be to make a 
demand for the bonds, and thus help the credit of the Govern- 
ment. All interested in the bank would be sure to be interested 
in the stability of the Government. 

Before signing the bill Washington asked from the members 
of his Cabinet their written opinions. The replies of Hamilton 
and Jefferson are great State papers. They clearly mark out 
doctrines of two distinct schools of political thought and two 



206 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

distinct methods of interpreting the Constitution. Jefferson, 
anxious to keep the central authority within narrow limits, 

agreed that the Government did not have the right 
construction'^"* ^*^ establish a bank, because no such power had 

been expressly granted in the Constitution, and 
because it was not necessary for carrying out any of the pow- 
ers that were granted. He thus advocated what is known as 
"strict construction" of the Constitution. Hamilton, on the 
other hand, argued that the Government had the right to 
choose all means that seemed suitable and proper for carrying 
out effectually the powers intrusted to it by the Constitution.^ 
He thus laid down the doctrine of "implied powers", and advo- 
cated a "broad" construction of the Constitution. Here, then, 
were stated by these two secretaries fundamental ideas that 
were to form the basic principles of contending parties. 

Before the end of Washington's first term political parties 
were organized. They were largely formed in consequence of 

sympathy with or antagonism to Hamilton's 

plans, which plainly enough tended not simply 
to establish sound financial conditions, but to give power and 
efficiency to the central authority. It was believed by many 
thdt the wily secretary was making use of his position by various 
vicious methods to bring and hold together a monarchical party, 

and that republican institutions were endangered 
party. ^^^ ^'^^^ ^y ^^^ schemcs and machinations of what Jefferson 

called the "corrupt squadron". These persons, 
so opposed to Hamilton's measures and suspicious of his devices, 
were now crystallizing into a party. Its leaders were Jefferson 
and Madison. It soon called itself the Republican party, but 
was often stigmatized by its opponents as democratic, a word 
not then in good odor because of the excesses of the French 



^ See the Constitution, art. i, sec. 8, § i8. The right of Congress to choose 
means for carrying out its power does not rest simply on this clause of the 
Constitution, but is a reasonable inference from the whole. Congress has 
only the powers granted by the Constitution; but according to the broad 
construction Congress can do anything that seems wise and appropriate 
to make the granted power effective. 



FEDERALIST PARTY IN CONTROL— 1789 -1801 207 

Revolution committed in the name of liberty and fraternity. 
It believed that the rights of the States should be defended 
against encroachments on the part of the National Government. 
Distrust of government and faith in the people were its dearest 
principles. Although Jefferson's suspicions of Hamilton's 
monarchic designs were quite unfounded and much of this 
early opposition to Federal measures was unwise, it was well 
that a party was formed with democracy for its substantial 
faith, a party whose aim was — to use Jefferson's quaint words — 
''the cherishment of the people". The defenders of the Hamil- 
tonian policy still called themselves Federalists, 

The Federalists. , , i i i r i ^ 

the word assumed by the supporters of the Con- 
stitution when it was before the people for ratification. Their 
opponents were often called Anti-Federalists, although, as 
suggested above, when parties were really formed (i792-'93) the 
Jeffersonian party was more properly designated as Republican 
or Democratic. The Federalists were broad constructionists, 
believers in a strong central government. They came in good 
part from the commercial States. . The Republicans were 
strict constructionists, and on the whole were from the agricul- 
tural States. Industrial conditions of the different sections 
of the country did much to determine party beliefs and ten- 
dencies. Commerce is essentially general, not local, and thus its 
followers favored a strong general government — a government 
that could insure free commercial intercourse and protect trade. 
By the end of Washington's first term it was plain enough 
that the new Government had elements of success and per- 
manence. There was evidence of prosperity 
National everywhere, of renewed hope, and of business 

prosperity •' ' , . 

and union. energy. National parties had sprung into exist- 
ence, and, though one of them was opposed on 
principle to the development of the power of the Federal 
Government, the co-operation among advocates of party 
doctrine from one end of the country to the other was a bond 
of real union, bringing the people into a closer and more 
sympathetic relation than had existed before in the era of the 
Confederation, when sympathies were often cut short by State 



208 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

boundaries. The new nation had evidently won attention if 
not respect abroad, but its international trials are best con- 
sidered as a whole in connection with Washington's second term. 
Washington desired to retire at the end of his first term, 
but was persuaded to accept another election. The discord in 
his Cabinet, which had by this time become ser- 
Party and -^^g troubled him very much. Hamilton and 

personal 

enmities. Jcffcrson, to usc the latter s own expression, 

"were pitted against each other like two fighting 
cocks". Jefferson thought the Secretary of the Treasury a cor- 
rupt and scheming enemy of republicanism, an intriguing 
monarchist. Hamilton thought that the Secretary of State was 
a demagogue, who cloaked a rankling ambition under profes- 
sions of fear for popular well-being. Washington's efforts to 
restore peace were fruitless. He had not known hitherto the 
depth and rancor of party feeling. Colonial history had given 
no indication of such party organizations, and hence he and 
others were astonished at what seemed to be unaccountable 
ill feeling. But, as we have seen, the differences, though need- 
lessly bitter and personal, were natural ones,^ and these two men 
were but representatives of different thoughts and feelings 
in the country at large. Despite all these party clashings 
and personal enmities Washington was again unanimously 
elected. The opposition was directed against Adams, who 
was, however, chosen Vice-President by a good majority. 

Without attempting to follow out in chronological order the 

event i of Washington's second administration, let us see what 

the chief troubles and achievements were. One 

The Whisky ^£ ^^^ difficulties to be overcome was the resistance 

Kebeluon. 

to the excise law. This resistance was especially 
str )ng in western Pennsylvania. The opposition was formi- 
dable. Mobs intimidated the tax collectors, and even used tar 

1 It was inevitable that men should differ regarding the power and scope 
of the new Government; inevitable, too, that they should differ regarding 
the trust and confidence to be bestowed on the whole people; inevitable 
that, under the circumstances, some men should dread the establishment 
of monarchy and see visions of tyranny where danger did not exist. 



FEDERALIST PARTY IN CONTROL— 1789-1801 209 

and feathers to emphasize their disapproval; public meetings 
denounced the atrocious interference of the Federal Govern- 
ment in the "natural rights of man".^ In 1794 opposition 
became rebellion and it was high time for the authorities to take 
decisive action. Fifteen thousand militia were called out, and, 
accompanied by Hamilton himself, they marched to the scene 
of disorder. Resistance was hopeless, and it ceased. Even the 
distant frontier was thus made aware that a National Govern- 
ment was in existence and that it could enforce its laws. It 
is a striking proof, however, of the dangers and trials that beset 
the establishment of the Government, that three years had 
passed by before these steps were taken to crush lawlessness 
in a few counties of the frontier. 

Most of the difficulties of these years were connected with 
foreign affairs. Politically independent of any European 
powers, our country was still industrially de- 
EngUnd^ ^* pendent. Moreover, the nation was weak, and 
its power was not respected by foreign govern- 
ments. England had long refused to treat us as an equal. 
Not till 1 791 did she send a minister to this country. The trea' y 
of 1783 had not been fulfilled by either party. England re- 
tained possession of the military posts on our Northern and 
Western frontier within the limits of the United States. Sho 
gave as her excuse that, contrary to the treaty, the loyalists had 
been persecuted and the British creditors prevented from col- 
lecting sums due them by American citizens. Her charges — at 
least during the time of the Confederation — had too much truth 
in them; but her main reason for retaining the Western posts 
was her desire to control the fur trade and to maintain her 
influence over the Indians. 

In 1793 war broke out between France and England. This 
put the United States into an embarrassing position. We were 
bound by the treaty of 1778 to allow France certain privileges 
in our ports not granted other nations, and common grati- 

^ Whisky actually took the place of money in the Western country. A 
gallon of whisky was worth a shilling, and therefore a tax of seven cents a 
gallon seemed very severe. 



210 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



tude might seem to force us to her side as an active ally. 

True, the French had not entered the Revolutionary War so 

much for the purpose of helping America as of 

War between injuring England, but they seemed to the men of 

England and , "' .^ ^ ' , / ^, , 

France. that time generous benefactors. It by assistmg 

France we should be drawn into war with Eng- 
land, it might bring complete disaster. The country was just 
beginning to hold up its head, and to look prosperous and 
hopeful after the trials of the Confederation. 

Washington concluded that we were at least morally 

justified in disregarding the French treaty, and he issued 

a proclamation of neutrality. Just as he did so 

a minister from the new French republic landed 

at Charleston. He began at once to fit out privateers to 

prey upon British commerce, and proceeded to violate the 




Triumph Government: Perish All Its Enemies 

A contemporary caricature of Washington and his policies, with respect 

to the Citizen Genet affair. From the original in the possession 

of the New York Historical Society 

neutrality of the United States and to act in general as if he 
were justified in doing what he pleased. He demanded, in a 
lofty tone, various favors from the government, and finally was 
so impertinent and so outrageous in his conduct that Washing- 



FEDERALIST PARTY IN CONTROL— 1789-1801 211 

ton asked for his recall. The most discouraging thing about the 
whole affair was that this fellow, Genet, was hailed as a hero 
as soon as he landed on American soil. Men who were in 
shivering dread lest Washington or Hamilton should make him- 
self a king were ready to pay kingly honors to this man whose 
conduct was directed to bringing on another war with England, 
all in the name of liberty, equality, and the rights of man. 
Washington was actually attacked in venomous newspaper arti- 
cles, and held up as the enemy of freedom and the friend of 
monarchy and corruption. Fortunately, the insulting mis- 
conduct of Genet ^ and the intemperate clamors of the French 
partisans ended in winning to the side of the Government the 
sober-minded citizens who had sense enough to see the real 
situation. 

But affairs were long in a critical condition. So extravagant 

in their actions and conduct were many of the people that 

insurrection within or war without seemed at 

^''^,»^.-„„c times almost inevitable. England meanwhile, 

aggressions. _ '='^ ^ ' 

instead of wisely seeking to conciliate and win us, 
was exasperating in the extreme. American merchantmen on 
the high seas were plundered, on the ground that they were 
bound with provisions to French ports and that provisions were 
"contraband of war"; seamen were taken from American vessels 
and forced to do service on English frigates; and in other ways 
the commerce of the country was attacked or outrageously 
interfered with. All this was done under pretense of right, but 
the Americans felt that it was the right of. the highway robber. 
Closely connected with these foreign complications were the 
Indian troubles in the West. Not since the end of the Revolu- 
tion had there been a good assurance of continued 
w^rf peace. The frontier was kept in constant dread 

of attack, and the only wonder is that men and 
women had the hardihood to move across the mountains into the 

^ Under authority from the French Government, Genet planned not 
only to cement a close alliance with America, but, with the assistance of 
the frontiersmen of the Mississippi Valley, to attack Spain's possessions in 
Louisiana and Florida, and to win Canada for "hberty and equality". 



212 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

Northwestern wilderness to suffer hardships and privations and 
to imperil their lives. In 1788 a settlement was made at 
Marietta by people from New England, the first settlement of 
importance north of the Ohio. The frontier, however, in the 
next few years extended but little. Detroit and Mackinaw were 
held by the British. It was popularly believed that the Indians 
were incited to hostilities by the British ofl&cers. Though it is 
not true that the English Government was guilty of such 
dastardly conduct, the red men took courage from the fact that 
the frontier forts were in the hands of their former allies, and 
they were continually led to look upon England as their stead- 
fast friend. 

In 1790 an expedition sent out under General Harmar to 
punish the Indians of Ohio was utterly routed. The next 

year an army under General St. Clair met a 
vic^ory.^ similar fate. In 1794 Washington intrusted the 

command of an army to General Anthony Wayne, 
one of the men of the Revolution upon whom the President 
knew he could rely. "Mad Anthony", as he was sometimes 
called, gave no signs of harebrained rashness. He completely 
defeated the Indians in a battle on the Maumee, not very far 
from where the city of Toledo now stands. In the winter 
(1795) he formed the treaty of Greenville with the chiefs. 
The victory and the treaty opened up a large section of the 
Northwest for settlement; and emigrants from the seacoast 
States were soon pouring over the mountains to build new 

homes in the new West. In seven years from 

The results. .11 ^-vi • 1 i • p 

the treaty oi Greenville, Ohio was knocking lor 
admission into the Union — one of the most striking facts in our 
history. 

It will thus be seen that the year 1794 was a dreadful one. 
The Government was for a time openly disobeyed by the anti- 
excise men of Pennsylvania. The country was 
of 1704 ^^" inwardly torn by faction, some persons upholding 
England, and others ready to accept the fraternal 
embrace of the French republic. Our flag was insulted on the 
seas and our seamen impressed. In the West the Indians were 



FEDERALIST PARTY IN CONTROL— 1789-1801 213 

hostile and were believed to be encouraged by the English, 
who still held possession of our frontier forts. 

We have seen how Washington overcame some of these 

troubles. To come to an understanding with England, he 

now sent John Jay as a special envoy to that 

Jay's treaty. X^, . . it, t-' -i 

country. The mission was a delicate one. t ailure 
presumably meant war; and yet we were in no condition to 
fight. Jay succeeded in making a good treaty, the best that 
could be obtained under the circumstances. It was not fair 
or equitable; England did not give us anything like fair commer- 
cial privileges, nor did she promise to give up impressment ; but 
she did give up the frontier posts and agree to pay for the pro- 
visions she had seized. The United States promised to pay debts 
due British creditors, the collection of which had been hindered in 
the States. The treaty met with violent opposition when its terms 
were known in America. Washington was vehemently abused. 
Jay was hanged in efi5gy and denounced as a traitor. Hamilton 
was stoned when endeavoring to speak in behalf of the treaty. 
But, with the exception of a single clause, it was finally ratified 
by the Senate. When the House was called upon to pass the 
necessary appropriation bills for carrying out the treaty, it called 
upon Washington for the papers relating to the matter. Wash- 
ington refused to give them, on the ground that the House had 
no share in the treaty-making power. A great debate ensued, 
and at length the necessary appropriations were made. 

In the course of Washington's second term both Jefferson 
and Hamilton gave up their oflSces, and other changes took 

place in the Cabinet. At the end the Cabinet was 
changes decidedly Federal, containing no longer members 

of different parties or representatives of different 
political tendencies. 

Three new States had by this time been admitted to the 
Union — Vermont, whose territory had been claimed by both 

New York and New Hampshire (1791); Ken- 
important tuckv, formed from what was the western part of 

measures. -^ ' / \ * 

Virginia (1792); and Tennessee (1796). A new 
amendment to the Constitution, the eleventh, was proposed in 
15 



214 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



The 

Government 
a success. 



1794, but it was not adopted till four years later. It resulted 
from the fact that the Supreme Court had declared that a private 
individual could sue a State. 

The end of Washington's administration saw the country 
free from many perils and on the high road to prosperity. The 
new Government had weathered severe storms and 
had proved itself efficient. Much of its success was 
due to the President's good judgment, sound 
sense, and firmness.^ His chief assistants also, 
especially Hamilton, deserve great credit. In spite of some 
uneasiness and waywardness among the people, they had shown 
to the world the great example of a nation organizing a govern- 
ment in peace and giving it obedience. 

Washington refused to consider an election for a third term, 
and in September, 1796, issued a farewell address. This is a 
noble public docu- 
ment. It deserves 
careful reading to- 
day, and in many ways fits our 
times as it did the days of a 
hundred years ago. He pleaded 
earnestly for a true national 
spirit and for devotion to coun- 
try. "Do not encourage party 
spirit, but use every effort to 
mitigate it and assuage it. . . . 
Observe justice and faith tow- 
ard all nations; have neither 
passionate hatreds nor pas- 
sionate attachments to any; 
and be independent practically The Election of 1796 



The farewell 
. address. 



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2^ . AW\ 


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Federalist 


(Jeorgia \ Y 




Repubtican\ 








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mllilll 




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1 One can hardly overestimate the importance of Washington's personal 
character upon the life of his country. His wisdom and courage, his simple 
integrity, his tact and forbearance, his dignity and manliness, his purity 
and magnanimity of soul, exalted the nation. Without him it is difficult 
to see how the Revolution could have succeeded or the new Government 
ihave been established. 



FEDERALIST PARTY IN CONTROL— 1789-1801 215 



The election. 



X»S^ 



of all. In one word, be a nation, be American, and be true 
to yourselves". 

In the election that ensued the Federalists supported 
John Adams and Thomas Pinckney, and the Republicans 
Thomas JefTerson and Aaron Burr. At that time 
the Constitution provided that each elector should 
vote for two persons. The one having the greatest number of 
votes should be President, "if such number be a majority of the 
whole number of electors", and the 
person having the next number 
Vice-President. Adams and Jeffer- 
son were well-known men, and 
each of them received more votes 
than either of the other two can- 
didates. Adams was elected 
President and Jefferson Vice- 
President. And thus these two 
important positions in the Gov- 
ernment were filled by persons of 
differing political beliefs; they 
were, as Adams said, "in opposite 
boxes". The consequence was 
that Jefferson was bitterly opposed 
to most of the work of an admin- 
istration in which he held the 
second position. 

Adams was a strong Federalist, given, at this time, to ideas 

somewhat lofty and aristocratic. He had had wide experience 

in affairs of state and had acquired merited dis- 

Adams. . . 

tinction. Having no sympathy with the popular 
theories of Jefferson, he was, on the other hand, not successful 
in winning the full confidence and support of the leaders of the 
Federalists, who still looked on Hamilton as the head of their 
party. Adams' inability to win strong personal support was 
in part due to a mixture of pride and sensitiveness, which 
were essential elements of his character, and in part to a cer- 
tain stififness of manner; but he was withal a sturdy patriot 




216 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

and an honest, able man. He inherited from Washmgton's 
administration two difficulties: first, trouble with France; sec- 
ond, at home, a condition of party rancor and of popular 
uneasiness, which were in reality not very dangerous but gave 
real anxiety to the men in office charged with making the 
government a success. 

Jay's treaty did not put an end to foreign troubles, Eng- 
land, indeed, treated us with more consideration than before; 
but France seemed utterly regardless of how she 

Difficulties i. j j.- i i t i ^ j 

with France. abuscd a young nation whom she did not fear, 
and she was now wroth with the United States 
because the government had come to terms with England 
without her august sanction. Monroe, whom Washington 
had sent as a minister to Paris, was recalled in 1796, because he 
was too ready to receive French compliments and too lax 
about pressing upon the government our demands for damages. 
The United States had long been suffering from the depreda- 
tions of the French upon our commerce. French war ships 
ruthlessly plundered American merchantmen. They had not, 
on the whole, done so much damage as the English men-of-war, 
but that was not because the French naval officers lacked the 
will and the desire, but was due to the fact that France was less 
powerful on the sea than England, and was less capable of 
injuring neutral commerce.^ 

Charles C. Pinckney was sent to Paris as our minister to 
succeed Monroe; but, instead of being courteously received, he 
was shamefully treated by the French Government. Our 
Government was given to understand that a minister would not 
be received until grievances were redressed, as if, forsooth, 
America, not France, had been the aggressor. With the hope of 
bringing France to her senses, Adams appointed a commission 
of three persons, John Marshall, Elbridge Gerry, and Charles 
C. Pinckney. These men, instead of being treated with official 
courtesy, were waited on in Paris by secret messengers sent by 
Talleyrand, the French minister, who made most extraordinary 

1 For some years after the treaty of 1794 England did not injure our 
commerce much. 



FEDER.\LIST PARTY IN CONTROL— 1789-1801 217 

and insulting demands. One of their requests was for a bribe 
for the members of the French Directory. They said they 
wanted "money, a great deal of money". ^ The commis- 
sioners found their situation humiliating and unbearable. 
Marshall and Pinckney left Paris; Gerry unwisely remained for 
a time, but accomplished nothing. 

The President sent to Congress the dispatches of the com- 
mission, April, 1798. The names of the French messengers 
were not given, but the letters X, Y, Z supplied 
correspondence. ^^^^^ places; hence this whole difficulty is often 
called the X Y Z affair. Congress and the country 
at large were amazed and angry at the treatment accorded our 
envoys. Adams proclaimed that he would not send "another 
minister to France without assurance that he would be received 
as the representative of a great, free, powerful, and independent 
nation". 

Preparation was made for war. An army was organized, 
and Washington given the command. The navy was increased. 
Battles were actually fought at sea and a general 
Francr ^^'^'' sccmed inevitable. But the French Govern- 

ment was readier to intimidate and browbeat than 
to fight. Upon this great question of national honor the Ameri- 
can people were no longer dangerously divided into hostile 
factions. The French sympathies of the Republicans were not 
strong enough to make them accept insults willingly. 

When it was evident that America was ready to fight, 
Talleyrand, the wily minister, whose methods and words had 
been so exasperating, thought it best to try 
different tactics. He suggested in a roundabout 
way that France would be ready to receive a minister from the 
United States "with the respect due to the representative of a 
free, independent, and powerful nation". This declaration of 

^ "Said he (M. X.): 'Gentlemen, you do not speak to the point: it is 
money; it is expected you will offer money'. We said we had spoken to 
that point very explicitl}'; we had given an answer. 'No', said he, 'you 
have not. What is your answer' ? We replied: 'It is no; no; no; not a six- 
pence'". (Report of the commission.) 



218 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

penitence was not so open and straightforward as might have 
been desired, but Adams wisely decided to make the best of it, 
and a commission was appointed to proceed to France and settle 
the dii3Eiculties. This was successfully accomplished and friendly 
relations were thus reestablished. 

Almost from the beginning of Washington's administration, 
parties had differed with regard to foreign policy. The Federal- 
ists were eager to keep on good terms with Eng- 
Federaiists ^^^^ ^. ^^^^ ^^^^^^ u ^^^ British faction" by 

try to crush ' -' . . -' 

opposition. their opponents, and charged with truckling to the 

interest of that country. As we have seen, the 
Federalists were specially strong in New England, and the com- 
mercial interests of this section prompted them to wish to keep 
out 01 trouble with the country whose power on the sea seemed 
invincible. The Republicans, on the other hand, had fellow- 
feeling for France. Even the extravagances of the "French 
Revolution did not shock some of them. England was to them 
the abode of despotism, France the home of liberty. This 
sympathy was not unnatural, but, carried to an extreme by the 
more excitable element of the people, it had caused trouble. 
There were in the country many men who were worthless 
fellows, foreigners who rejoiced in railing at the Government, 
ridiculing Adams, and indulging in general abuse of those in 
authority. These men were in the Republican party; but that 
party should not be judged by the follies of its most foolish 
members. The X Y Z disclosures for a time put an end to 
faction. All reasonable men were united in their readiness to 
defend America against insult. The Federalists felt that now 
was the time to act, that "democracy" was permanently dis- 
credited, that false and malicious criticism of Government should 
be made a crime. They decided to take advantage of their 
power to crush factious opposition. With this end in view 
three acts were passed (1798): i. The Naturaliza- 
le'diti^n Lws!^ tion A<=t lengthened the time of residence required 
before a foreigner could become a citizen. 2. The 
Alien Act empowered the President to exclude dangerous 
foreigners from the country. 3. The Sedition Act made it a 



FEDERALIST PARTY IN CONTROL— 1789-1801 219 

crime to print or publish "any false, scandalous, and malicious 
writings against the Government of the United States, or either 
house of the Congress, or the President, with intent to defame 
them or to bring them into disrepute". The last two laws were 
dangerous in their nature. The Sedition Act might well be so 
enforced as to make all criticism of governmental action a 
crime. 

These laws were vigorously denounced by the Republicans 
in Congress as tyrannical and unconstitutional, as laws that 

"would have disgraced the age of Gothic barbar- 
Kentuck*"*^ ity". When they had been passed, the party 
resolutions. leaders decided that a formal protest must be 

made. The mode chosen was unfortunate. The 
Legislatures of Virginia and Kentucky each passed a series of 
resolutions condemning the laws as unconstitutional and void, 
and declaring the right of the States to interpose and to main- 
tain their rights. These resolutions came from distinguished 
authors. Madison drew up the Virginia resolutions, and, 
though Jefferson's name was for a time hidden, he was the real 
author of those of Kentucky. As to how we are to read these 
instruments scholars may yet differ. Madison in later years 
indignantly denied that he had meant to advocate the doctrine 
that a single State could declare void an act of the National 
Government and prevent its enforcement within the limits 
of such State; but, as a matter of fact, the doctrine of "nullifica- 
tion" and the related doctrine of secession did in course of 
time draw encouragement and sustenance from these reso- 
lutions.^ ' 



^ The Virginia resolutions declared that " this Assembly . . . views the 
powers of the Federal Government as resulting from the compact to which 
the States are parties, . . . and that in case of a deliberate, palpable, and 
dangerous exercise of other powers, not granted by the said compact, the 
States . . . have the right and are in duty bound to interpose for arresting 
the progress of the evil and for maintaining within their limits the author- 
ities, rights, and liberties appertaining to them". The first series of Ken- 
tucky resolutions declared that "each party has an equal right to judge for 
itself, as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of redress"; while 
the second series said "that a nullifiation by those sovereignties [the States], 



220 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

When the war cloud blew over, the Federalists were left 

in an unenviable plight. The expenses of the Government had 

been materially increased, a direct tax had been 

The downfall of , • , i . -i i i i i i 

the Federalists ^^vicd, and acts unnecessarily harsh had been 
placed on the statute books. Moreover, the 
party itself was divided. Many were opposed to Adams on 
personal grounds; they believed that his readiness to treat with 
France was disloyalty to the party. Adams found it necessary 
to reorganize his Cabinet, because some of the members looked 
to Hamilton as their leader and guide. This factional bitterness 
was sure to tell against the Federalists in the election. In 
addition to all this was the fact that the people were really at 
heart democratic, and the mild, hopeful principles of Jefferson 
were more to their liking than the sterner, repressive teachings 
of the party whose task it had been to put the Government in 
working order. ^ 

The Republican candidates were the same as in 1796, 
Jefferson and Burr. The Federalists put forward Adams and 
Charles C. Pinckney. The Republicans were suc- 
jg^jjj ' cessful. The result, however, was not what they 

had expected. Both of their candidates had re- 
ceived the same number of votes, and thus the election was 
thrown into the House of Representatives. The Federalists 
were in the majority there. To many of these men Jeffer- 
son seemed not only the chief enemy of their party, but a 
dangerous man; they therefore voted for Burr. According to 



of all unauthorized acts ... is the rightful remedy ". It is now well decided 
that, although the Central Government has only the authority given by the 
Constitution, it can judge of the extent of the authority so given. The 
Supreme Court is final judge; but of course through an amendment to 
the Constitution the states can determine or set new limits. 

1 In the autumn of 1800 Congress assembled for the first time at Wash- 
ington. It was then a rude town of about five hundred people. With few 
exceptions the houses were huts. The inhabitants were negroes, or idlers 
who expected to get rich at once from the sale of their lands. It was a 
gloomy, unpromising place. "We want nothing here", said Gouverneur 
Morris, "but houses, cellars, kitchens, well informed men, amiable women, 
and other trifles of this kind to make our city perfect". 



FEDERALIST PARTY IN CONTROL— 1789-1801 221 

the Constitution the vote was by States. Out of sixteen States, 
eight voted for Jefferson, six for Burr, and two were evenly 
divided. The balloting continued several days, until it was 
feared that no election would take place, and that some extra 
constitutional device must be resorted to; but, fortunately, 
patriotism and sense finally overcame partisanship, and Jeffer- 
son was elected (February 17,1801). Burr was a man utterly 
without principle and wholly selfish. He was practiced in the 
worst arts of political management. His election as Vice- 
President was bad enough; had the Federalists succeeded in 
making him President, it would have been the crowning shame 
of partisanship. In order to avoid in the future such trouble as 
this, Congress proposed the twelfth amendment to the Constitu- 
tion, and it was adopted by the States (1804). It provided that 
the electors should cast a ballot for President, and separate 
ballot for Vice-President.^ 

By the end of Adams's administration parties were formed 
and organized as they were to remain without much change for 
some years. Hamilton's financial measures had attracted into 
the Federal party the commercial classes of the North. All the 
elements of society whose chief desire was stability and strength 
found their way into the party that was seeking to give force 
and character to the National Government. The task of the 
Federal party had been to establish the Government and to 
bring about order and system. When this was accomplished 
its usefulness was in large measure over, and it gave way to the 
Republican party. 

References 

Hart, American History Told by Contemporaries, Volume III, 
p. 322. Hart, Formation of the Union, pp. 137-175. Walker, The 
Making of the Nation, Chapters V-VIII. H. C. Lodge, George 

iThe election of 1800 marks the victory of the party system; the con- 
stitution had not contemplated parties. The method provided by the Con- 
stitution for choosing President and Vice-President would not work well 
when parties were formed and when there were party candidates; for, if 
each elector should cast his two votes for the two candidates of this party, 
there would always be a tie. 



222 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



Washington, Vol. II, Chaps. II-IV. Morse, Thomas Jefferson, 
Chaps. VIII-X, XII. Lodge, Alexander Hamilton, Chaps. V-IX. . 
ScHOULER, Thomas Jeferson, Chaps. X-XI. Stevens, Albert', 
Gallatin, Chap. IV. Morse, John Adams, pp. 237-318. McMaster, , 
History of the People of the United States, Vol. I, pp. 525-604; II, pp. 
1-533- ScHOULER, History of the United States, Vol. I, Chaps. II-IV. .i 
Bassett, Federalist System. (Last three longer accounts.) 




B-ErEPTiON OF Washington at Trenton, N. J , April 21, 1769, on His 

Way TO His Inauguration 

From the Columbian Magazine of May, 1789 



CHAPTER XII 

JEFFERSONIAN DEMOCRACY— INTERNAL 
DEVELOPMENT 



Jefferson's 
doctrines. 



The new President was a man of strong parts, with a great 
faculty of winning men and of filling them with his own ideas 
and hopes. When positive action was necessary- 
he was at times weak, and was given to idealizing 
when the actual should have occupied his atten- 
tion. But his ideals were on the whole noble and wise, for he 
seemed to foresee the coming life ^^ 

of his country. He was bitterly 
opposed to anything that might 
fasten upon this young land the 
burdens under which the people of 
Europe suffered. America was for 
man ; and, if man were to make the 
most of himself, he must not be 
oppressed by a smothering upper 
crust of nobility, by heavy taxes 
that consumed his substance, by 
big armies and navies, by a huge 
and expensive government. War, 
too, was to be avoided. "Peace 
is our passion", he declared. The 
essence of Jeffersonism is con- 
tained in the thought that Amer- 
ica means opportunity.^ 

^ See Jefferson's inaugural address; McLaughlin, Readings. 

It is an interesting fact that there came to the presidential chair, just at 
the beginning of the new century, this man of generous ideals, who looked 
out boldly upon the new continent and had visions of the growth of popu- 
lar government and of man's upbuilding. 

223 




224 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

In carrying out the policy of his administration Jefferson 
was ably assisted by Madison, his Secretary of State, and by 
Albert Gallatin, his Secretary of the Treasury. Up to this time 
the Republican party had been opposed to an extension of the 
powers of the National Government. But now that they were 
in power the Constitution was broadly construed, and much was 
done to increase the strength of the nation and to bind its parts 
together. It is easy enough to accuse the Republicans of in- 
constancy. In a large measure they did not follow the policy 
they had set up when they were a party of opposition. But, as 
we shall see, Jefferson strove on the whole to live up to his 
fundamental theories, to avoid war and develop a peaceful 
nation. Neither he nor his best advisers forgot their funda- 
mental doctrine of faith in the people. And, on the whole, 
the people trusted him as he trusted them; triumphantly 
reelected in 1804, he continued in the presidential chair till 
1809 and was able to turn over the presidency to Madison, 
who believed in Jeffersonian principles and sought to follow in 
the steps of the great founder of the party. 

It is an amusing fact that one of the first things that Jefferson 
had to do — this lover of peace — was to send some of the dreadful 
warships, which the Federalist administration had 
1801-02. ^' built, across the Atlantic to whip the Algerian 
pirates. The job was well done, and the Barbary 
powers which had been the scourges of the ocean, seizing 
American ships and enslaving American seamen, were given a 
summary lesson. To chastise them soundly proved a better 
policy and a cheaper one than paying tribute — the older practice 
— and trying to satisfy the greed of the hungry fellows. 

Just before Adams left office the Federalists had passed an 
act creating a number of new judgeships and extending the 
judicial system. The new places thus provided 
iSoTrepelied. Were all filled with Federalists. It was reported 
that Adams on the last day of his administration 
was busy up to midnight filling fat offices with his own party' 
followers, the "midnight appointments". The Republicans, 
upon getting in power, repealed the act which created the new 



JEFFERSONIAN DEMOCRACY 225 

judicial offices, and the judges were thus deprived of their 
positions. It was claimed by the Federalists that this violated 
the Constitution, which provided that judges were to hold office 
during good behavior. There was great ill feeling on both 
sides.^ At this same time arose an interesting law case. A 

man named Marbury had been appointed to an 
Madison. ^^' office by Adams, but his commission had not been 

delivered. He asked the Supreme Court for an 
order directing Madison, Jefferson's Secretary of State, to give 
him the commission. This the Court refused to do on the 
ground that the writ, or order, he asked for could not be issued 
in a suit begun in the Supreme Court, because the Constitution 
did not give the Court such power. This was a very impor- 
tant case, because it declared void a part of the judiciary act of 
1789, and it was the first clear assertion by the Supreme Court 
that it could declare void an act of Congress. ^ 

This power of a court to declare that a law passed by Con- 
gress is void, or the similar power exercised by State courts to 
declare acts of the State legislature void, has become a matter of 
exceedingly great interest, for the practice grew as time went 
on. It rested on the principle that the Constitution is law and, 
therefore, anything contrary to it, even an act passed by Con- 
gress, cannot be law; the act then must give way. Similarly as 
the legislature of a State is bound by the terms of the State 

^ It is hard to see how the Federalists could well maintain their point. 
The Constitution in giving the right to Congress to establish inferior fed- 
eral courts (see Constitution, Art. Ill, Sec. i.) naturally gave it the right to 
disestablish the courts and rearrange the system. Congress could not 
remove a judge from an existing office; but it could take the office out from 
under him. 

^ The Judiciary Act of 1 789, which established the Federal courts, provided 
for the issuing of such orders in "original proceedings" before the Supreme 
Court, that is to say, in proceedings or suits begun in that court and not 
brought by appeal from lower courts. Marshall, therefore, in this decision 
found it necessary to declare that portion of the Judiciary Act unconstitu- 
tional and he refused to grant the order. The constitution gives "original 
jurisdiction" to the Supreme Court in only two kinds of cases, and the 
Marbury case belonged to neither one of these kinds. See Const., Art. 
Ill, Sec. 2, par. 2. 



226 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



Impeachments. 



constitution, a legislative act contrary to the constitution of the 
state cannot be good. 

The decision of the Court in the Marbury Case irritated 
Jefferson exceedingly, not so much because the Court had de- 
clared a portion of the law unconstitutional — for 
Jefferson, if he had seen the whole thing clearly, 
might naturally be expected in accordance with his theories to 
have welcomed restriction on legislative power — but because 

Marshall in giving the decision had 
criticised the administration sharply 
for not turning the commission over 
to Marbury. Jefferson disliked Mar- 
shall anyway, and Marshall had no 
sort of regard for his fellow Virgin- 
ian in the presidential chair. Partly 
because of this feeling of irritation 
against the judiciary, two Federal 
, judges were impeached. One of them, 
Judge Pickering, a district judge in 
a Federal district in New Hampshire, 
was shown to be given to drink, was 
probably insane, and was rightly re- 
moved from office. The other. Judge 
Chase, was justly charged with ut- 
terances from the bench which were 
at the best out of taste; but the Senate did not convict him of 
"high crimes and misdemeanors" and remove him from office.^ 
In some degree the charges against Chase were looked upon 
as an attack on the independence of judges; and the failure 
of the impeachment gave assurance that judges would be re- 
moved only for serious offences.^ Under the able leadership of 




^ For Impeachment, see the Constitution Art. I, Sec. 2, § 6; Art. II, 
Sec. 4. The House makes the charges; the Senate tries. What is the defi- 
nition of "high crimes and misdemeanors" as the words are used in the 
Constitution nobody can say; probably they were not intended to mean 
crimes in the ordinary sense of the word. 

^ The Supreme Court was long a stronghold of the Federalists, and that 



INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT 227 

Marshall the Court went on and became firmly established 

in the respect and affection of the people. Marshall was the 

greatest judge in our history/ not because he was 

"^^^ a great lawyer — other men have equaled him in that 

development " -^ ^ r i • i 

of the Court. respect — but because he was a statesman or high 
order, and, with marvelous ability and insight 
comprehended and interpreted the fundamental law of the 
land in accord with its deepest needs and purposes. Judge 
Story was likewise a great jurist, and did much to establish the 
dignity of this branch of our Government. The respect which 
the people came to feel for the Court and their readiness to 
abide by its decisions were encouraging and wholesome features 
of our national life. 

The Federalists in New York, and above all in New England, 
were restless in the extreme under the Jeffersonian rule. As the 
days went by and it appeared that the Repub- 
conspiracy. licans Were firmly in possession of power in the 
national government, some of the disgruntled 
Federalists were prepared to go great lengths to get rid of 
the Virginia leaders and to have their own way. Many seemed 
to believe that the country was on the brink of destruction 
because of the misdeeds of the Jeffersonians. They believed 



fact was trying to some of the over-zealous Republicans; and Chase's 
impeachment was therefore partly due to his intense devotion to the Fed- 
eralists and his dislike of the other party. Because of heated partizanship 
some of the Republican leaders long distrusted or disliked the Judiciary. 
Jefferson said over and over again that impeachment was only a "scare- 
crow", and one of his weaknesses was his unbending dislike of Marshall. 
Both of them were great men. One believed most strongly in order, gov- 
ernment and Justice, the other in liberty and individual improvement — 
it is hard to tell which ideas are higher and better. 

1 Marshall was chief justice from 1801 to 1835. Story was appointed 
in 181 1. Mr. Bryce thus speaks of Marshall: "It is scarcely an exaggera- 
tion to call him, as an eminent American jurist has done, a second maker 
of the Constitution. . . . Marshall was, of course, only one among seven 
judges, but his majestic intellect and the elevation of his character gave 
him such an ascendancy that he found himself only once in a minority on 
a Constitutional question" . (The American Commonwealth, vol. I, p. 374, 
first American edition.) 



228 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

that Democracy would soon cause the overthrow of all respecta- 
ble government.^ The more hot-headed among them actually 
discussed in secret the advisability of dissolving the Union. 
Aaron Burr, whose foul ambition could ever be relied on, was 
to be used as a tool by these conspirators, and one of the first 
steps was to try to secure his election as governor of New York. 
Hamilton, who was bitterly opposed to the whole treasonable 
scheme, used all his influence against it, and it was due to his 
opposition, in no small measure, that the intrigue was a failure 
and Burr was defeated. Burr thereupon challenged Hamilton 
to a duel and killed him (1804). The treasonable conspiracy, 
for the time, at least, died out. A few years later there seems 
to have been a renewal of these whispered plots among some of 
the more bitter Federalist partisans. The great majority of the 
New England people were never guilty of the crime or folly of 
planning the destruction of the Union, Despite all the mean 
intriguing and the open dissatisfaction of the Federalist leaders, 
Jefferson got the full electoral vote in the election of 1804, save 
those of Connecticut and Delaware and two votes in Maryland. 
Hamilton's death startled and shocked the Northern people, 
and had its effect in doing away with the brutal practice of 
settling personal disputes upon "the field of 
honor". Burr was indicted for murder and fled 
the State, followed by the execration of the public. This awful 
tragedy is the most dramatic episode in the early history of our 
Union. Hamilton had in reality offered up his life for his 
country. He had served her well, and perhaps this was not an 
inappropriate close of a great career. With a wonderful capac- 
ity for government and the tasks of civil administration, with 
a strong grasp of political principles and a profound knowledge 
of public law, gifted with financial skill of a high order, and 
handling details with as much ease as he comprehended systems, 
he stands forth as one of the greatest constructive statesmen of 
his generation. 

^ They used what has since been called the Federalist syllogism — "dem- 
ocracy, anarchy, despotism": the first would lead to the second, the second 
to the third. 



INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT 229 

Disappointed in his ambitions in the East^ Burr now en- 
tered upon a desperate undertaking in the West (1805-6). 

Exactly what his plans were is somewhat uncer- 
Jon^sSrl^y. ^aiu. Perhaps he hardly knew himself what he 

hoped to do. Indeed, at different times and to 
different persons his plans assumed different aspects. He 
was probably intent upon attacking the Spaniards in Mexico, 
and may have also hoped for power and grandeur as the head, 
of a Western empire. Possibly the story is not ill told in a 
letter written at the time by one who was in the secret: "Ken- 
tucky, Tennessee, the State of Ohio, the four Territories on the 
Mississippi and Ohio, with part of Georgia and Carolina, are to. 
be bribed with the plunder of the Spanish countries west of us, 
to separate from the Union". It was a wild and foolish plan,, 
such as could be begotten only in the brain of a man who was so. 
devoid of principle and patriotism himself that he could not 
appreciate such qualities in others. He interested many per- 
sons in his conspiracy, chief among whom was General Wilkin- 
son, Governor of the Louisiana Territory; but Burr was at 
length arrested and tried for treason (1807). He was not con- 
victed, however, because it could not be proved ^ that he had 
actually levied war upon the United States 

The one event which stands out above all others in the- 
history of Jefferson's day is the annexation of Louisiana — 

the acquisition of the great West, stretching from 
porta"°fact™" ^^® Mississippi on to the Rockies and from the 

gulf north to the British possessions. It is a long 
story, this story of the struggle for the ownership of the Mis- 
sissippi Valley: for the ownership of the valley and the control 
of the great river came to us only after they had been mat- 
ters of consequence in European and American war and di- 
plomacy for a hundred years and more. France, as we remem- 



^The Constitution declares that "treason against the United States, 
shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their ene- 
mies, giving them aid and comfort". (Constitution, art. iii, sec. 3.) 

When Marshall refused to hold Burr for treason on the evidence sub- 
mitted, Jefferson was more angry than ever. 
16 



230 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



ber, had first held the whole region; then it was divided 
between England and Spain (1763); next the United States 
was given the eastern half north of the thirty-first parallel, 
though Spain held the mouth of the river (1783). As the 
West developed in the 



years after the Revolution 
our need of free and open 
water communication with 
the Gulf became impera- 
tive. 

Since the time of the 

Revolution the Mississippi 

question had 

The Mississippi i r , 

question. b^en of great 

importance. 
That great river, with its 
tributaries, formed high- 
ways to the sea for the 
people west of the moun- 
tains. To float their heavy 
flatboats down to New 
Orleans was an easier task 
than to carry burdens by 
the long route overland to 
the cities of the Atlantic. 
It seems strange but it is an important fact in Western and na- 
tional history, that until the days of canals and railroads the 
Western people faced southward rather than eastward.^ 

Every passing year made the need and desire of the West 
more pressing; for the West was growing. Already (1803) there 

were three States beyond the mountains, Ohio hav- 
New Orleans ^^S j^^^ been admitted. To the man who could 

imagine a tithe of the future growth of the country, 
the possession of the mouth of the Mississippi seemed a simple 




Signing the Louisiana Purchase 
Treaty 

From a tablet in St. Louis, sculptured by 
Karl Bitter 



^ A very clear account of the Mississippi question is to be found in How 
to Study and Teach History, by B. A. Hinsdale, chap. xx. 



INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT 231 

necessity. "There is one spot", said Jefferson, "the possessor 
of which is our natural and habitual enemy". That spot was 
New Orleans, and Jefferson fully realized that sooner or later 
we must possess it. 

For twenty years and more our relations with Spain had 
been delicate and trying; for she held not only the great West 

but the mouth of the river and had only grudg- 
LotdsTana.*^*"' ^^S^Y allowed (i795)' the free right of navigation 

to the sea. Now in 1800, by a secret treaty, Spain 
ceded Louisiana to France. Just what Louisiana was, was 
uncertain, but it certainly included New Orleans and a vast 
territory to the west. Not for some time was this secret 
transfer discovered, but when it was found out it was time to 
act. Spain in this point of advantage was bad enough, but 
France would never do; she was too enterprising and too strong. 
To make matters worse, the Spanish authorities at New Orleans 
deprived the Americans of the right they had had of depositing 
their goods there. Something had to be done or the West 
would not keep the peace. 

Jefferson took steps to purchase New Orleans and West 
Florida, and appointed James Monroe a special envoy for that 

purpose. Before he reached Paris, Talleyrand 
The Treaty. suggested to Livingston, the resident minister, 

the possibility of a great bargain, and after Mon- 
roe's arrival a treaty was signed whereby France sold Louisi- 
ana to the United States for about .$15,000,000 (April, 1803). 
The boundaries, as we have already said, were indefinite. 
Napoleon remarked, with his customary cunning, that if an 
obscurity did not exist about the boundary it would be well 

^ Spain insisted for many years after 1 783 that she owned the territory 
as far north as the northern boundary of the old province of West Florida, 
a line through the mouth of the Yazoo. In 1795 it was agreed that the 
thirty-first parallel should be the southern limit of the United States be- 
tween the Mississippi and the Appalachicola. Spain at the same time 
granted to the Americans the right to deposit goods at New Orleans and to 
export them without paying duty. As the West grew in population the 
desire increased to hold the mouths of the streams that rose in American 
territory and flowed southward into the Gulf. 



232 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

to make one. The purchase certainly included New Orleans, 
and so much of the territory west of the Mississippi as lay 
north of the old Spanish possessions, and east of the Rocky 
Mountains; in other words it was the western half of the Mis- 
sissippi Valley.^ The United States claimed West Florida also, 
but probably wrongfully. It was taken later, however, under 
claim of title (1810-12). 

There were some doubts in Jefferson's mind as to the con- 
stitutionality of purchasing and annexing the territory. To 
do so was certainly contrary to the doctrine of 
o/'anneMU^on! ^ strict Construction of the Constitution which he 
had advocated when in opposition. For some time, 
therefore, he insisted in his consultations with his friends and 
advisers that the purchase be sanctioned by an amendment to 
the Constitution .2 The great majority of the Republican 
party, however, did not think the act illegal. The Federalists, 
admitting the right to acquire territory, opposed the treaty on 
the ground that it provided for the admission of new States 
from the territory so annexed; they did not like to see the 
annexation of a great western country whose inhabitants were 
in the future to come into the Union on terms of equality with 
the older States. Both parties, therefore, agreed that the United 
States as a nation could acquire territory; they differed on the 
question of the nature of the control over it. 

Thus the territory of the United States was more than 

doubled. Louisiana contained over 800,000 square miles. 

It was part of the great Mississippi Valley. The 

Its meanings. '. , ^ ^ '^ •' , 

heart of the contment, bound together by rivers 

' We took France's title — Louisiana with the extent that it "has in the 
hands of Spain, and that it had when France possessed it, and such as it 
should be after the treaties subsequently entered into between Spain and 
other States". On the basis of these words we laid claim to Florida as far 
east as the Perdido, on the ground that Louisiana in the hands of France 
had extended thus far. This, it must be said, was an afterthought on Liv- 
ingston's part, and in the light of all the evidence must be considered an 
unjust claim. 

^ The right to annex territory was afterward upheld by the Supreme 
Court. Am. Ins. Co. v. Canter, i Peters. 511. 



3 •? « ^ , 
5 ^ < I i^ - S 

OS ^ Q. ^ S £ .£ f 




INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT 



233 



into a single geographic whole, fell to the new republic. Noth- 
ing else could be done so likely to insure perpetual union. 
Geography itself taught the lesson of Unity; the great western 
valley with its innumerable water courses, all hurrying to the 
mighty river and on to the Gulf, could not be rent asunder, 
and when, in later years, there was an attempt to take the 
southern portion out of the Union, the cry was strong and loud 
that the father of waters must roll "unvexed to the sea". 




Routes of Lewis and Clark and Pike 



The great West was an unknown wilderness. Some French 
explorers years before had crossed the plains, but little or 
nothing was now known about the country. In 
of^p&e **"* the summer of 1805 Lieutenant Pike made a jour- 
ney of exploration up the Mississippi River. He 
went as far north as Leech Lake, and notified British and In- 
dian occupants of the territory that they were under American 
rule. The next year he went from St. Louis to the West. He 
penetrated even into the mountains of Colorado and New 
Mexico, and gave his name to Pike's Peak as a permanent 
monument of his expedition. In 1803 Jefferson, eager to ascer- 
tain the character of the great dominion he had purchased, 
sent out Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to make explo- 



234 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

rations in the far West.^ They made their way tc the head- 
waters of the Missouri, crossed the great divide, and reached 

the mouth of the Columbia River, and there they 
ciark^^'^ ^" ^^^ " ^^^ waves like small mountains rolling out 

in the ocean". They had reached the goal of 
American ambition. The journey to the coast and return re- 
quired more than two years. 

These Western expeditions were evidences of American 
enterprise, but they could bring very little immediate result. 

American skill and independent thought were 
The steamboat. .... ^ , , i • i 

begmnmg, however, to show themselves in other 

fields than exploration. On August 17, 1807, Robert Fulton 

put his steamboat, the Clermont, to the test. Before a crowd 

of onlookers the little craft slowly made its way at the rate of 

four miles an hour against the current of the Hudson River, 

This is an important fact in our history; for, if the steamboat 

was at first an object of idle curiosity, its usefulness was soon 

demonstrated. To the West it was of surpassing importance; 

the American people were given the means to conquer the 

continent and to occupy with rapidity the vast valley which 

only a generation or two before had been occupied by a few 

French traders and uncivilized red men. In 181 1 a steamboat 

was built at Pittsburgh and began the descent of the river to 

New Orleans; in 181 8 the Walk-in-the- Water made a voyage 

from Buffalo to Detroit. 

The western people were already multiplying and reaching 

out to occupy the river valleys of the interior. Ohio, admitted 

as a State in 1803, was growing; Kentucky and 

The steamboat m i •, , j • .1 i , r ii- 

and the West. ^ eunesscc, admitted in the later years oi the 
previous century, were putting on the appearance 
of settled communities. But the work of settlement, expansion 
and progress was slow in comparison with the movement after 
the steamboat came to offer its aid. Before the little flat- 
bottomed steamers with their powerful paddle-wheels began to 



^ Even before the acquisition of Louisiana Jefferson had taken a prac- 
tical interest in the exploration of the West. 



INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT 



235 



ply the western rivers, all the commerce from New Orleans to the 
upper country was carried on with about twenty barges; it 
took a keel-boat from thirty to forty days to make the trip from 
Louisville to New Orleans, and about ninety days to come back;, 
the sturdy rivermen pulled and poled and warped the heavy 
boat against the swift and stubborn current. But when the 
steamer came into use the trip down was made in seven days. 




Early Flatboat from St. Louis to New Orleans, Time Four Months 

and the trip back in sixteen. Soon the tributaries to the Missis- 
sippi were threaded; boats burning the wood from the forest, and 
vomiting out great showers of sparks and cinders, puffed their 
way along these watery highways, carrying new settlers into 
the great interior country or bearing the produce of the farm 
and plantation on to the market.^ 

References 
Hart, Contemporaries, Volume III, pp. 367-376, 381-389; Hart, 
Formation of the Union, pp. 1 76-191; Walker, The Making of the 
Nation, pp. 168-189, 203-213; Schouler, Thomas Jefferson, Chapter 
XII; Morse, Thomas Jefferson, Chapters XIII-XVI; Oilman, 
James Monroe, Chapter IV; Adams, John Randolph, Chapters IV-VII. 
Longer accounts: Schouler, History of the United States, Volume II, 
49-150, 230-309; McMaster, History of the People of the United States, 
Volume II, pp. 533-635, Volume III, pp. 1-219, 459-528; Channing, 
Jeffersonian System, Chapters I-V, VII, XII. 

^ We shall see something more of this western growth in a later chapter. 
It has been estimated that the produce from the Mississippi Valley, reach- 
ing New Orleans in 1830, amounted to $26,000,000. See Turner, Rise of 
the New West, ch. v. An interesting account of the steamboat will be found 
in McMaster, History of the People of U. S., Vol. IV, pp. 397-407; H. Adams, 
History, Vol. IV, p. 135, Vol. IX, pp. 167-172. 



CHAPTER XIII 
THE STRUGGLE FOR RIGHTS UPON THE SEA 

We have already seen something of the troubles that came 
to America when war broke out in Europe between England and 
France. Washington, we remember, decided that it was our 
business to stand aloof and not to get entangled with European 
affairs. Jay's treaty in 1794 settled our misunderstanding with 
England, and then later, while Adams was President and when 
it seemed as if we must have open and avowed war with Franetf, 
that difficulty was patched up,^ and we continued to live in 
peace. But, as long as Europe was rent with strife, we were in 
danger; and soon after Jefferson came to the Presidency new 
clouds appeared on the horizon. In truth, as we shall see, all 
through these early years of the century, while America was 
expanding and building up, while the people were moving into 
the western country and building homes in the great valley, 
the relations with foreign nations were full of peril. We shall 
now have to see how Jefferson and his successor in office, lovers 
of peace and hopeful of American democracy, sought to meet 
these dangers. 

England and France, it will be remembered, had begun to 
fight in 1793, and the contest was still waging. There had 
been a troubled peace for about a year after the 
Fra^nce at^war. treaty of Amicus (1802), but now the war was 
being carried on with renewed vehemence. The 
English felt that their safety and independence as a nation 
were at stake. They were desperately in earnest. Napo- 
leon's victorious career on the Continent had given rise to 
fears that he would establish a European empire and crush all 
that were not submissive to his will. He hated with a profound 

^ Treaty with France in 1800. 
236 



THE STRUGGLE FOR RIGHTS UPON THE SEA 237 

hatred the Httle island that stood doggedly in the way of his 
lawless ambitions. Neither nation was in a mood to consider 
the rights of a neutral state. Each sought to make the most 
out of America, the young republic, whose power was not 
dreaded, and who seemed by her carrying trade to be the only 
nation profiting by the war. 

In 1805 England decided that, contrary to her previous 

policy, goods from the French colonies transported in American 

ships could be seized, even though they had been 

Aggression upon jandcd in the United States and reshipped.^ 

American , . . u i ^ a 

commerce. J-his was a scnous blow to American commerce, 

which had been thriving in this very trade. In the 
same year the battle of Trafalgar was won by Nelson; England 
was henceforth mistress of the seas. She used her power arro- 
gantly. British men-of-war were actually stationed just outside 
New York harbor to intercept American merchant vessels, search 
them, and impress their seamen. The domineering spirit of the 
British commanders increased the annoyance and mortification 
_ ^ arising from such treatment. Hundreds of sailors 

Impressment. ° 

were thus in a single year taken from American 
vessels and forced to fight the battles of England. The ground 
of seizure was that these men were Englishmen born, and Eng- 
land's assertion was "Once an Englishman, always an English- 
man". It must be noticed that that country was not unique 
in holding that a man could not give up allegiance to his native 
land and become the citizen of another. Other nations held the 
same doctrine. But in practice England enforced her claims 
arrogantly, seized native-born Americans as well as Englishmen, 
and disdainfully treated American commerce as if the flag at 
the masthead of a vessel offered no security from insult and 
annoyance. It was plain enough that, much as the Jefferso- 
nians loved peace, the United States must soon fight in defence 
of its self-respect. 

The crowning act of insolence occurred in 1807. The 
American frigate Chesapeake was overtaken not far from 

^ This subject is very clearly treated in Channing, The United States 
of America, pp. 174-180. 



238 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

Hampton Roads by the British frigate Leopard, and the Brit- 
ish commander demanded the surrender of several seamen 
serving on the Chesapeake, whom he claimed to 
The Chesapeake ^^ deserters from the British service. When 

affair. 

this demand was not acceded to, the Leop- 
ard, at the distance of a hundred and fifty or two hundred 
feet, poured her whole broadside into the American vessel. The 
Chesapeake was unprepared for action. She received three 
broadsides without being able to answer in kind, and then 
struck her flag and surrendered. Three men were killed and 
eighteen wounded. The alleged deserters were taken aboard 
the Leopard. Three of them were Americans, one of the three 
being a negro. Perhaps the most exasperating thing about this 
whole affair was the presumption shown in attacking a frigate 
that was, if given a fighting chance, a fair match for the Leopard. 
But the English did not stop to consider that an American 
frigate could fight. Within a few years they learned their 
mistake. This outrage nearly brought on war at once, and it 
probably would have been as well if that had been the result, 
for it was high time that either France or England came to see 
that the United States could defend herself. And yet one 
must strongly sympathize with Jefferson and his advisers, who 
loathed the barbarity of war, and believed that self-interest and 
common sense should win all nations to peace. Unfortunately, 
the times were not suited for such humane ideas. Nearly the 
whole civilized world was rent with strife. 

Through these years France injured American commerce 

and lost no opportunity to gain by plunder. England, indeed, 

made some pretence of having legal justification for 

English orders j^gj- conduct ; but Napolcou did not seem to need any 

and French . i • . i . i ^ 

decrees. cxcuse for ordcrmg the seizure and condemnation 

of vessels. Jefferson, in a moment of exasperation, 
said that England had become a den of pirates and France a den 
of thieves. Napoleon and the English Government vied with 
each other in issuing proclamations that would prevent the free 
course of neutral trade (1806-7). England issued two Orders 
in Council which went to the extent of declaring a blockade of 



THE STRUGGLE FOR RIGHTS UPON THE SEA 239 

i 

nearly the whole coast of Europe. This was to a great extent 
a mere "paper blockade" — an announcement without sufficient 
power to make it effective.^ But the French emperor answered 
with two announcements that were even more "papery". He 
issued two "decrees" — the Berlin and Milan Decrees — the 
former declaring that the British Islands were in a state of 
blockade, the latter declaring that any American ship sub- 
mitting to search by an English vessel was lawful prize for 
French cruisers. So here was the humiliating situation — on 
the one hand an American ship might refuse to be searched 
and in consequence be blown out of the water by an English 
frigate, or she might submit to the indignity; on the other hand, 
if she should submit, she was in danger of becoming the prize of 
a French man-of-war or of being seized in any Continental har- 
bor subject to French power. 

Efforts were made to bring England to terms by some 
means short of war. December, 1806, Monroe and William 

Pinkney, in London, negotiated a treaty, but 
treaty "^"^"^ Jcffcrson rcfuscd to accept it as satisfactory. 

He ought either to have accepted it or to have 
prepared seriously for war. He did neither. At the end 
of 1807 Congress, on his recommendation, passed an embargo 

act, closing all the American harbors to commerce. 

This act was in force for over a year. It solved 
none of the difficulties under which the country was suffering. 
The vessels lay idle at the wharves, men were thrown out of 
work, foreign trade was abruptly stopped, and home trade was 
checked. The products of the Southern plantations could 

not be transported. The interests of all sections 

Results. '■ 

of the country were injured. Perhaps New 
England was hurt least of all, because the inventive Yankee now 
turned his attention to manufacturing and made money, 
because foreign goods could not be imported. The Northern 
people were, however, bitterly incensed against the policy 

^ A real blockade may not keep out an occasional "blockade runner"; 
but it is now the rule that it must be more than an announcement; the 
harbors must be really blockaded. 



240 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



Non- 
intercourse. 



which seemed, under the guise of protection, to be destroying 
their commerce. England was doubtless somewhat injured, 
but not enough to induce her to revoke her orders. Napoleon 
confiscated American vessels in the ports of Europe, claiming 

that he was in all kindness enforcing the embargo. 

Thus the plan broke down. The embargo act 

was repealed in the spring of 1809, and the non- 
intercourse act was passed, making all commerce with Great 
Britain, France, and their dependencies illegal, but restoring 
trade with the rest of the world. 

Jefferson left office in 1809. His 
long effort to avoid war and to win 

respect for American 
Madison as rights upon the sea 

President, , , , , , 

1809-1817. by the embargo, his 
scheme of peaceful 
coercion, seemed profitless; war had 
thus far been avoided, but condi- 
tions were even more perplexing 
than before. James Madison and 
George Clinton were chosen as 
President and Vice-President in 
1808, and on the shoulders of Madi- 
son fell the burdens of solving, if he 
could, the trying problems of the 
time. He had long been one of 
Jefferson's chief advisers and he 

too hoped that the perils and losses of war might be escaped ; 
he too longed to find some peaceful way out of the difficulties 
which beset the nation, and he did not yet despair.^ 




Ja.\txt3 AicLcCi.io*i 



^ Madison was in many ways a great man. He had taken a leading 
part in the formation of the Constitution and won the title of the "Father 
of the Constitution" by his work in the convention of 1787. He was a 
thoughtful, scholarly man, a student of political theory. As a Virginian 
and a follower of Jefferson, he was one of the men who believed profoundly 
in the principles of Jeffersonian politics. He was not a stern, unrelent- 
ing administrator and perhaps the times demanded a man of more iron will: 



THE STRUGGLE FOR RIGHTS UPON THE SEA 241 

Madison's administration began brilliantly. An agreement 
was reached with the English minister, Erskine, resident at 

Washington, that the Orders in Council should be 
agreement^ withdrawn. The country was elated, but doomed 

to a speedy disappointment. The English Gov- 
ernment repudiated the action of its minister, and Madison was 
even accused of having taken advantage of Erskine's youth and 
inexperience to cajole him into an unauthorized agreement. 
Erskine was recalled and conditions were worse than ever, for 
his successor, a man named Jackson, was so impertinent in his 
insinuations of bad faith on Madison's part that he was informed 
that our Government would receive no communication from him. 
Matters were now indeed hurrying to a catastrophe. France 
and England were so utterly brutal in their attacks upon 

American commerce that they both deserved a 
treachery.^ whipping; but as it was impossible to fight both, 

one of them should have been chosen for an ally 
without more delay. In 1810 (March 23) Napoleon issued a 
decree, ordering the seizure of all American vessels that, since 
the non-intercourse policy was adopted, had entered the ports of 
France or of any other country occupied by the French. As a 
result, scores of vess^els worth many thousands of dollars were 
confiscated, and the money was poured into Napoleon's treasury. 
It was a shameful piece of thieving, but by no means the only 
one of which Napoleon was guilty. However objectionable war 
might be, American property might better have been used in de- 
fence of American rights than stolen by the Emperor of the 
French to help on his career of glory and carnage. 

Soon after the issue of this infamous decree the American 
Congress passed a bill known as the Macon Bill No. 2 (May i, 

18 10). This provided that non-intercourse should 
America gives be abandoned, but that if either of the offending na- 

Napoleon an . i i i ci it i t ^ 

opportunity. tious should SO rcvoke or modify her edicts as that 

they shall cease to violate the neutral commerce of 

the United States ", then intercourse with the other nation should 

but he was high-minded and able. He retained Gallatin as his Secretary 
of the Treasury, and in 181 1 James Monroe became Secretary of Itate. 



242 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

be prohibited. Napoleon, cunning and dishonest, was ready to 
take the advantage thus offered him. The French Minister of 
Foreign Affairs wrote to the American minister in Paris: 
"His Majesty loves the Americans. Their property and their 
commerce are within the scope of his policy". This surprising 
announcement was coupled with the statement that after 
November first the obnoxious decrees would not be enforced, 
but that, on the other hand, England must do likewise and 
renounce her " new principle of blockade", or that the United 
States should "cause their rights to be respected by the Eng- 
lish". ^ So Napoleon, by taking advantage of the Macon Bill 
No. 2, by a little distortion of its language entered, as it were, 
into a contract with the United States. He is said to have 

remarked a few days later, "It is evident that we 
advantage of it Commit oursclvcs to nothing". As a matter of 

fact, he continued to confiscate the American 
cargoes and vessels as before. Late in 1810, however, Madison 
accepted this statement of the French Government, and on 
March 2, 181 1, Congress passed an act reestablishing non- 
intercourse with Great Britain. 

During 181 1 the sky did not brighten much. The United 
States was still spitefully ill-used by the combatants and still 

restlessly held its peace. England now offered 
in ^8^11"^ '°° ^° make reparation for the Chesapeake outrage, 

and the offer was accepted; but this did not seem 
to heal many wounds or bring much consolation. About the 
same time a similar affair occurred between the English man-of- 
war Little Belt and the American frigate President, but this 
time the English man-of-war was shattered and crippled, 
and America was filled with elation because at least one British 



^ The important clause in the letter is as follows: "I am authorized to 
declare to you that the decrees of Berlin and Milan are revoked, and that 
after November ist they will cease to have effect, on the understanding 
that, in consequence of this declaration, . . . the United States . . . shall 
cause their rights to be respected by the English". It is plain that by 
accepting such a revocation Madison in a way bound the United States to 
compel England to cease her vioktions of our commerce. 



THE STRUGGLE FOR RIGHTS UPON THE SEA 243 

sea captain had been taught a lesson. To England, however, 
one lesson was not enough, for, proud in her strength upon the 
sea, she continued to assert her right to search American 
vessels and impress seamen for her service. Doubtless some of 
these men were deserters from British vessels, and England 
needed every man in the great death struggle with France, but 
the method of using her power was exasperating in the extreme. 
For some time the Indians on the western frontier had been 
in a restless and dangerous mood. Tecumthe — or Tecumseh, 
^^ ^ ,, , as he is generally called — a Shawnee chief of great 

The battle of . . ° -' ° 

Tippecanoe, ability, had entered upon the task of organizing 

November, \}^q ^cd men into a vast confederacy to resist the 
1811 . 

encroachments of the whites. The truth seems 

to be that, although the English did not directly encourage 

hostilities, they had made preparations to use the Indians in 

case of war. With Tecumseh, in his effort to arouse the 

braves, was his brother the "Prophet", who, not so wise or 

cautious as Tecumseh, brought on a war with the Americans 

in the autumn of 181 1. The white troops were commanded 

by General William Henry Harrison, and they defeated the 

Indians in the battle of Tippecanoe, fought (November 7th) 

near where the creek of that name falls into the Wabash, in the 

western part of the State of Indiana Tecumseh joined the 

English army the next year. 

At this time a new element showed itself in the Republican 

party, a new element in directing public affairs. Younger men 

from the South and West came to positions of 

The young . . „ , 

Republicans. prommcuce m Congress, men whose names we 
shall see over and over again as we read the 
history of the nation. Henry Clay, of Kentucky, a young 
man barely thirty-four years of age, a representative of the 
new West, was chosen Speaker of the House. He was elo- 
quent, fervid, and full of zeal for American dignity and honor. 
He represented a new generation in American politics, a genera- 
tion which had arisen since the Revolution and had none of the 
old feeling of colonialism or of inferiority to foreign powers, a 
generation of men who were intensely American. He repre- 



244 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



sented too the ambitious, impetuous West, where it was custom- 
ary to resent insult on the moment and to fight lustily on occa- 
sion. There were others that stood beside him, not minded to 
accept England's buffets with smiling face or dally with fruitless 
negotiation or endless discussion. Among them was John C. 
Calhoun, then a man of less than thirty years, keen, able, alert, 
and eloquent. This young and vigorous element of the party 
prepared for war. Clay organized the committees of the House 
on an aggressive basis, giving Calhoun a place on the Committee 
of Foreign Affairs, where his abil- 
ity and vigor made him its lead- 
ing member and the director of its 
policy.^ 

The election of Clay to the 
speakership is of moment for sev- 
eral reasons, not 
only, as we have 
said, because he rep- 
resented a new, virile element in 
the party and came from a new, 
energetic section of the country, 
but also because he was the first 
Speaker to make use of his posi- 
tion materially to influence legis- 
lation. He was therefore the first 
of modern speakers; for from that 
time the power of the Speaker's 
office developed so strongly along 
the lines that Clay marked out that it can now be justly called at 
least second in importance and power in the Government. 
"The natural leader of that moment was Henry Clay", says one 
writer. "That the place he was given from which to lead the 
country was the chair of the House of Representatives is a fact 



Clay the first 
great Speaker. 




1 Daniel Webster entered Congress in 1813. Clay, with his usual sagac- 
ity, put Webster at once on the Foreign Affairs Committee. From this 
time on for forty years he was a conspicuous figure in American life. 



THE STRUGGLE FOR RIGHTS UPON THE SEA 245 

of great significance. . . . Henry Clay was elected more than 
any other Speaker as leader of the House".^ John Randolph 
summed up the situation in 1812 in a telling question: "After 
you have raised these 25,000 men, shall we form a committee of 
public safety to carry on the war, or shall we depute the power 
to the Speaker? Shall we declare that, the Executive not being 
capable of discerning the public interest or not having spirit 
enough to pursue it, we have appointed a committee to take the 
President and Cabinet into custody"? The question is, like 
many of Randolph's utterances, extravagant, but its irony dis- 
closes an interesting situation. 

For twenty years France had been treating the United 
States shamefully. But rarely, if ever, had a French frigate 
impressed American seamen on the ground that 
EiTund'^ they were Frenchmen, while England resorted 

boldly to this practice and replenished her crews 
from the crews of our merchantmen. Moreover, Napoleon had 
taken the opportunity offered by the Macon Bill No. 2, and by 
cunning and deceit had put the United States at a disadvantage. 
Added to this was the fact that the Republicans, in control of 
the Government, were favorable to France and opposed to 
England. Coming, as many of them did, from the South and 
West, they did not fear the ravages of the English navy, because 
they had no commerce to be destroyed. So the United States 
finally drifted into a war with England and took up arms as the 
ally of Napoleon. Could there be stranger companions in arms 
than Napoleon Bonaparte and James Madison? 

The young, ambitious Republicans, who were largely 
responsible for the war, hoped not only to make England respect 
our flag, but to seize Canada and to dictate, as they said, an 
honorable peace at Halifax. They were filled with zeal for 
showing American prowess. So Madison finally yielded to the 
impulses of a large portion of his party — timidly and reluctantly 
yielded, one must believe, for to fight at last seemed like casting 
a slur on the years through which he and Jefferson had strug- 

^ FoUett, The Speaker of the House of Representatives, p. 71. 
17 



246 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



gled to avoid war, and had sought to find some peaceable method 
of coercion. Avoidance of war seemed now impossible, and 
Madison yielded to the inevitable. June i, 1812, he sent to 
Congress a message recounting British aggressions on our rights. 
On the 1 8th Congress declared war. On the i6th of this same 
month the English ministry announced in the House of Com- 
mons that the Orders in Council were to be withdrawn, and a 
few days later they were formally revoked. Had there been an 
Atlantic cable in 181 2 it is quite possible that the war would have 
been averted. 




Election of 
1812. 



Field of the Campaigns in the West, War of 181 2 

Madison was probably more willing to acquiesce in the 
notion that war was necessary, because a campaign for the 
presidency was near and the young Republicans 
demanded an attitude of hostility toward England. 
However that may be, he was put forward and 
elected, and with him Elbridge Gerry as Vice-President. And 
thus there fell upon his shoulders the unwelcome, ill-fitting task 
of leading in war — few men were ever less fitted for the job of 
leading and inspiring a loosely knit democracy, which did not 
know its own strength or how to use it. 



THE STRUGGLE FOR RIGHTS UPON THE SEA 247 

The United States at the outbreak of the war had a popula- 
tion of about eight milHons. Great Britain and Ireland had 

a population of nearly twenty millions, had for 
combatants ^ ^^^^ time been expending blood and treasure 

lavishly in the mortal conflict with Napoleon, 
and was now nerved to great effort. The United States en- 
tered the conflict divided. There was not a universal sentiment 

that war was necessary. The North and East 
The United were the sections which had suffered the most from 

states divided. 

the depredations inflicted by England on American 
commerce, yet many of the people of New England preferred to 
bear the ills they had rather than to fly to the heavier if more 
honorable losses of war. If the choice must be made, they pre- 
ferred a war with France, in order that England might be an 
ally and not an enemy, and that her fleet might not harry their 
coast and destroy their commerce. But if they must fight 
against the mistress of the seas, they desired that the navy be 
strengthened and given every help. Because of these different 
opinions the country was weaker than it should have been, and 
suffered disasters that might have been avoided had there been 
a common front against a common enemy. 

It was apparent at the outset that the Northwest must be 
protected. Some time before the formal declaration of war 

General William Hull was sent with a force from 
NorthweTt"^ Ohio to the defence of Detroit. War was declared 

while he was on the way. The British were posted 
at Maiden. Hull, after some disasters, arrived in Detroit, and 
soon passed over into Canada, pompously calling upon the 
Canadians to seek freedom from oppression under the American 
standard. But his position was perilous and he soon returned to 
Detroit and found himself in trouble. His lines of communica- 
tion with Ohio were broken, and on August i6th he surrendered 

Detroit to the enemy. Mackinaw had already fall- 
Detroit gjn^^ and the Indians soon destroyed Fort Dearborn, 
August, 1812. where Chicago now stands. Michigan was in the 

hands of the enemy, and the whole Northwest in 
danger. The Indians, under the leadership of Tecumseh, a war- 



248 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



rior of rare vigor and ability, aided the British in these western 
campaigns. The people of Michigan Territory remained in 
terror of the Indians throughout the war. 

Little was done in the East during this first summer of the 
war. There was fighting on the Niagara frontier ^ but on the 
whole the campaign was a dismal failure, as far as the land 
battles were concerned. 




^^ ^^^^ -/.^^F^^\.^^%r^^ 



The Constitution 
From an old cut 



On the sea, however, matters had taken a different turn. 
Our navy was small, but some of the vessels were good, and 
officers and men had received excellent training 
theoceln.*"^ ^^ Seamanship. ITie United States frigate Con- 
stitution, under command oi Commodore Isaac 
Hull, fought and captured the English frigate Guerriere. ''In 
less than thirty minutes from the time we got alongside of the 
enemy", reported Hull, "she was left without a spar standing, 

^ Battle of Queenstown, October 13th. 



THE STRUGGLE FOR RIGHTS UPON THE SEA 249 

and the hull cut to pieces in such a manner as to make it difficult 
to keep her above water". She was so badly damaged that the 
victors destroyed her. This was a momentous victory. "It 
raised the United States in one half hour to the rank of a first- 
class power". ^ 

Other victories followed quickly, and the people of the 
whole country were jubilant, especially the New Englanders, 
who had long boasted that "the wooden walls of Columbia" 
would prove the nation's best defence. It was apparent that 
Great Britain had found a rival on the ocean, and this at a time 
when a succession of victories in the Napoleonic wars had made 
England the mistress of the seas. America could not equal the 
enemy in strength, for the English navy was very large and 
powerful; but when vessels met on anything like even terms the 
Americans showed themselves at least the equals of the English 
in gunnery, and often their superiors in seamanship. 

The campaign of 1813 began in discouragement. In Jan- 
uary a company of brave Kentuckians, who had volunteered to 
retake Detroit and to wipe out the disgrace of Hull's 
^ampa^ign surrender, were attacked and beaten at the River 

Raisin, in Michigan. In the course of the year 
however the tide turned in our direction.^ To control the In- 
dians and protect the frontier, Detroit must be secured; to 
do this with safety Lake Erie must be in our control. Near 
the western end of the Lake an American fleet 
Battle of Lake ^ndcr the Command of Commodore Perry met 

Erie, September ,ir ^ -n, • ' ^ n ^ i ^ /-> 

14, i8i3, and defeated a British fleet commanded by Com- 

modore Barclay. The battle was picturesque. 

1 Henry Adams, History of the United States, vol. vi, p. 375. This 
means that, although England and France might treat America sharply 
and although America might long remain weak in comparison with the 
great nations of Europe, hereafter no nation could treat the United States 
as if it were an insignificant, third-class power which could only whine 
when it was punished. 

2 Fort Meigs, on the Maumee, commanded by Harrison, was attacked 
by the British in May. It was bravely defended, and the enemy was 
forced to retreat. This defeat cost the British the confidence and suppor*" 
of many of the Indians. 



250 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



Perry had to leave his flagship, the Lawrence, during the 
engagement and row to another .vessel. He finally conquered 
and his announcement of the victory has become famous: "We 
have met the enemy and they are ours. Two ships, 
and of the ^^^ brigs, onc schooner, and one sloop". Harrison, 

Thames, • i i • j r i n 

October 5, 1813. With the aid of the fleet, passed to Detroit, whence 
he followed the retreating enemy into Canada and 
defeated them at the battle of the Thames, October 5, 18 13, 
where Tecumseh was killed. 




Battles in the 
East, 1813. 



Field of the Campaigns in the North and East, War of 181 2 

In the East as well as the West there were some victories 
for the Americans. General Dearborn decided upon an expe- 
dition to York (now Toronto). A successful 
attack was made upon the place and it was taken 
and destroyed. Later in the summer. Fort George, 
on the Niagara River, passed into our hands, the result of 
a fierce assault led by Lieutenant-Colonel Winfield Scott, 
who distinguished himself for gallantry. Late in the autumn 
an unsuccessful expedition was set on foot against Montreal, 
and in December Fort George was abandoned. In other 



THE STRUGGLE FOR RIGHTS UPON THE SEA 251 

words, at the end of the second year of the war the situation 
on the northern boundary, except at Detroit, was much as 
at the beginning. The campaign had been managed with no 
energy and with little show of generalship. 

On the ocean there were victories and defeats for the 
ambitious little navy. In February of this same year the 
^ , American Hornet fought and sunk the Peacock, 

On the ocean. , . . . 

the British brig Pelican captured the Argus, and 
the American brig Enterprise defeated the Boxer. The most 
noteworthy contest was that between the American frigate 
Chesapeake and the Shannon. The former was commanded 
by Captain Lawrence, who was anxious to meet the Shannon 
and accept a challenge publicly offered by the English comman- 
der. The engagement lasted but a few minutes, ending in a 
complete victory for the English vessel. Captain Lawrence 
was killed. The event caused great sadness in America, but 
the rejoicing in England was substantial proof that the defeat 
of a Yankee frigate was no longer considered a foregone con- 
clusion. 

During the summer of this year and the winter of 1814 
there was some sharp fighting with the Indians in the South, 

General Jackson was finally victorious over them 
southwest. ^^ ^ bloody battle at the Horseshoe, a great bend 

in the Tallapoosa River. This campaign under 
Jackson's energetic leadership destroyed the power of the 
Indians in that section. Many of them fled into Spanish terri- 
tory, and in later years caused the United States much trouble. 
The year 18 14 was hardly more cheering than the previous 
one. General Wilkinson, in the Champlain region, began the 

campaign by an example of inefificiency, and the 
batues'* 1814 summcr bade fair to be disastrous. English vessels 

hovered along our coast, ready to pounce upon 
any merchantmen that ventured to steal out of harbor, and 
the apparent defeat of Napoleon in Europe gave opportu- 
nity to send over to America some of the veterans of that long 
contest. On the Niagara frontier our troops under General 
Brown, an able man, fought with great gallantry. The battles 



252 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



of Chippewa and Lundy's Lane were victories for the Americans, 
where Scott again distinguished himself. These successful en- 
gagements gave us a slight hold on Canada, but in the autumn 
the American troops were withdrawn to the New York side of 
the river, and the year ended with nothing accomplished in that 
quarter. 

A victory on Lake Champlain gave some encouragement. 
The British with a large force were intending an invasion of 
Tj ►*! * T 1 New York by the old route, by the way of Lake 
Champlain, Champlam ; but success depended on the sup- 
September, pQj-j- Qf ^]^g accompanying fleet. All hope of 
assistance from this quarter was soon destroyed. 
An American fleet under Commodore Macdonough met and 
defeated the British ofif Plattsburg in a desperate and hard- 
fought contest. 

During the summer the east- 
ern coast was much harried by 
the enemy. In Au- 
washington g^gi- ^^^y appeared 

taken, August, . , ... . 

J814. in the vicmity of 

Washington, finally 
taking that city, after some feeble 
efforts at resistance. They burned 
the Capitol as a "harbor of 
Yankee democracy". The Presi- 
dent's house and some of the other 
public buildings were likewise de- 
stroyed. This was said to be in 
retaliation for American acts in 
Canada. The Americans had 
burned the Government buildings 
at York; but this had been done by some private soldiers acting 
without authority, and was denounced by the press of the 
whole country and disowned by the commanding general. The 
English people, too, regretted the burning of the buildings at 
Washington. One paper said: "The Cossacks spared Paris, 
but we spared not the Capitol of America". 




The Region about Washing- 
ton AND Baltimore 



THE STRUGGLE FOR RIGHTS UPON THE SEA 253 



Naval events, 
i8i4- 



The naval events of this year were not so interesting as 
those of the preceding year. The sloop Essex, after an ex- 
tended cruise in the Pacific protecting American 
whalers and capturing those of the enemy, was 
destroyed by two English ships after a fierce and 
stubborn, contest near Valparaiso. But by this time the Eng- 
lish fleet on our coast was so large that it actually blockaded the 
principal ports of the United States. 

In the latter part of this year the British prepared to make 
an attack upon New Orleans. They sent ten thousand veteran 
troops for the 

Battle of New purpose. 
Orleans, Jan- ^ , t i 

uary, 1815. General Jack- 
son was in 
command of the United 
States forces in that quar- 
ter. After some skirmish- 
ing, the enemy made a 
grand assault upon the 
American defenses, Janu- 
ary 8th. Our forces were 
well protected, and the 
attack was disastrous to 
the English. Their loss 
was very great; their com- 
mander was killed, and some two thousand of the troops were 
either killed, wounded, or missing. The Americans lost about 
seventy. 

This battle was fought two weeks after peace had been con- 
cluded at Ghent. The treaty ending the war (December 24, 
1814) settled none of the questions in dispute, not 
even the right of impressment. But the war was 
nevertheless not without results. Our little navy 
had shown its mettle, American privateers had done im- 
mense damage to British shipping, and there was some realiza- 
tion in Europe that American rights must be respected. More- 
over, as the war in Europe was over, impressment was now 




GULF of 
I THE WAR l.N' THE SOUTH | 



Treaty of 
Ghent. 



254 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



practically a thing of the past, and there was no need of a 
clause in a treaty to make it so. America had beyond 
question dignified itself among the nations. And yet one can 
not help regretting that the war could not have been avoided. 
It was waged by one free nation against another free nation,, 
and it aided Napoleon, the enemy of free institutions every- 




=?>£^ 



House in Ghent where the Commissioners Met to Agree upon the 
Treaty of Peace that Ended the War of 1812 



where. It was waged by two peoples whose real interests were 
the same, and whose mission in history has been the develop- 
ment of liberty and civilization.^ 

During the war there had been great dissatisfaction in New 
England. In the latter part of 1814 a convention of delegates 
from these States met at Hartford. It was com- 
monly supposed that it would plot a disruption of 
the Union; but it simply drew up remonstrances, 
and proposed amendments to the Constitution intended to 

' It is now one hundred years and more since the United States began, 
the war of 181 2, a hundred years of peace much more worth while than a 
hundred years of war. The treaty of Ghent is to be celebrated in 1914, 
not as marking the victory of either nation, but as the inauguration of a 
century of peace. 



Hartford 
convention. 



THE STRUGGLE FOR RIGHTS UPON THE SEA 255 

protect a minority of the States against unwelcome Federal 
legislation. The doctrines laid down were similar to those of 
the Virginia resolution of 1798: "In cases of deliberate, danger- 
ous, and palpable infractions of the Constitution, affecting the 
sovereignty of the State and liberties of the people, it is not 
only the right but the duty of such a State to interpose its 
authority for their protection. . . . States which have no 
common umpire must be their own judges and execute their 
own decisions". Peace came before anything was accomplished, 
and so the resolutions amounted to nothing. The Federal party, 
whose stronghold was New England, was brought into discredit 
and disrepute because it had not entered heartily into the war. 
The war did much to nationalize the country. State selfish- 
ness and pride had in the minds of the majority of the people 
given place to a broader love of country. The 

Effects of war. ° -A , i • , i i • 

New Englander had grumbled and mdulged m 
perpetual fault-finding, and his opposition had given the Gov- 
ernment great anxiety and much trouble; but his cheek, too, 
flushed with pride as he thought of the victories of the Yankee 
ships upon the sea, and remembered how Yankee seamanship 
had more than once excelled the skill of the British tars. And 
so when the war ended there was prospect for a more firmly 
united nation than ever before. 

References 

Hart, Contemporaries, Volume III, pp. 385-388, 390-394, 417-420, 
422-425; Hart, Formation of the Union, pp. 102-220; Walker, 
Making of the Nation, Chapters X-XII; Gay, James Madison, 
Chapters XVII-XX; Schurz, Henry Clay, Volume I, Chapter V. 
Longer accounts: McMaster, Volume III, pp. 219-458, 528-560, 
Volume IV, pp. 1-279; Schouler, Volume II, pp. 151-224, 310-491; 
Channing, Jefersonian System, Chapters XIII-XX; Babcock, Rise 
of American Nationality, Chapters HI-XL 



CHAPTER XIV 

NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT; INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS 

When the war was over, America turned her attention to the 
tasks of progress and of peace. Years were to pass without 

serious trouble with foreign nations, and in those 
of'^el^I*^^''^ years the people were destined to wax strong — 

founding new factories, moving on into the West, 
making new farms, reaching out for the wealth that the land 
offered in abundance. The problems that arose in American 
political life were, for some time to come, not shaped or con- 
fused, as they had been in the past, by European conflicts or 
by partisan sympathy for one contending nation or another; 
the time had gone by when factions among the people were 
known as British factions or French factions. We had our own 
business to attend to and that proved to be enough. The 
problems of the West, the growth of manufacturing in the 
East, the development of slavery in the South, all brought 
their problems for adjustment. 

For twenty years or so Federalists and Republicans had 
been pitted against each other and had striven for control of the 

Government. But the course of the war wrought 
gin trSsTppear. changes. The Republicans, in charge of the 

Government, had largely given up their notions 
about strict, narrow construction of the Constitution; they real- 
ized the need of a government which could do things and main- 
tain its dignity. Even Madison and Monroe advocated 
measures which were much like those of the old-time Federalists, 
and they were prepared to go upon a principle of broad, national 
interpretation of the Constitution, The younger men, Clay, 
Calhoun, and others, who had brought on the war, were filled 

256 



NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT; INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS 257 



with enthusiasm for progress and for national upbuilding.^ The 
Federalists, withering under the reproach of the Hartford Con- 
vention, soon ceased to play an important part and ere long 
altogether disappeared as a party. 
In 1816 Monroe was chosen Presi- 
dent by an overwhelming vote, 
the Federalists carrying only Mas- 
sachusetts, Connecticut, and Dela- 
ware. Four years later he was 
again elected,- this time with only 
one electoral vote against him. 
These eight or ten years after the 
war, free from the absence of bitter 
party strife, are commonly called 
the " era of good feeling". "People 
now meet in the same room", 
said a newspaper in 181 7, "who a 
short while since would scarcely 
pass each other along the street". 

Even befcre Madison's administration ended Congress 
entered upon the work of legislation to meet new conditions. 
First of all was the task of bettering the monetary 
and financial condition of the country. All during 
the war there had been great confusion; financial 
disorder reigned.^ Congress had refused in 181 1 to recharter 




A new national 
bank, 1816. 



1 "There should now be no differences of parties", said Josiah Quincy, 
"for the Republicans have out-federahzed FederaHsm". With the Repub- 
licans advocating a bank, tariff, the building and maintenance of ships of 
war, there was nothing left for the Federalists, who had long been only a 
party of opposition, save to find fault and to cling to their old suspicion of 
the political competence of the masses of the people; such fault-finding 
waS; however, out of place, when the country was entering with enthusi- 
asm and hopefulness on a career of industrial development. 

2 Monroe's cabinet was composed of able men; John Quincy Adams 
was Secretary of State; William H. Crawford of Georgia, Secretary of the 
Treasury; John C. Calhoun, Secretary of War. 

' " Among the severest trials of the war was the deficiency of adequate 
funds to sustain it, and the progressive degradation of the national credit. 
The currency soon fell into frightful disorder. Banks with fictitious cap- 



258 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

the National Bank, whose charter then expired. State banks 
had as a consequence increased greatly in numbers, many of 
them without more than the merest show of capital. The value 
of their notes was a matter of conjecture. Most of the banks 
were utterly unable to do more than put out promises to pay, 
for specie they did not have. In 1816 a new Bank bill was 
introduced into Congress and passed. The charter was for 
twenty years, the capital $35,000,000, of which one-fifth was 
to be owned by the United States. One-fifth of the directors 
were to be appointed by the President and confirmed by the 
Senate. In bringing in sound commercial and monetary condi- 
tions, the bank was of some service; but it by no means gave 
universal satisfaction. In the Western States particularly 
there was much hostility to the institution which the people 
charged with being the organ of Eastern capitalists. 

But it was not possible to bring in sound conditions simply 

by establishing a bank; the commerce and business of the coun-^ 

try had to settle down and adjust themselves to 

. „^^",°„„° new conditions. For almost the fourth of a cen- 

transition. 

tury there had been war in Europe, and American 
trade had grown up largely on what we may call a war basis. 
Now there was peace; and men, that had been accustomed to the 
more reckless ventures of trade in time of war, found they must 
learn new lessons of cool calculation and unlearn much that 
they had learned before. The country needed to find its way 
into new paths of peaceful industry. 

For a time everything seemed to go on finely; everywhere 
were signs of enterprise and energy. What are commonly 
„. , . called flush times prevailed. Men were led into 

Flush times, , ^ ., „ . 

speculation and were tempted to run wildly into 



ital swarmed through the land and spunged the purse of the people, often 
for the use of their owa money, with more than usurious extortion. . . . The 
Treasury of the Union was replenished only with countless millions of 
silken tatters and unavailable funds; chartered corporations, bankrupt, . . . 
passed off upon the Government of their country, at par, their rags — pur- 
chasable, in open market, at depreciations of thirty and forty per cent". 
(John Quincy Adams, The Lives of Madison and Monroe, p. 272.) 



NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT; INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS 259 

debt. Such conduct always brings its reward in disaster. Only 
gradually could the losses of the war be repaired, or business be 
established on a fair basis and lasting prosperity secured. 
Every hasty step simply added to the trouble that was to come. 

Before an era of sound prosperity commenced, the country 
passed through the hardships of a commercial panic. For this 
there were many reasons. The currency in com- 
disasters. ^^^ ^^^ ^" many parts of the land was of fluctuat- 

ing and uncertain value, or of no value at all; 
much of it consisted of notes issued by banks acting under State 
charters without sufficient capital, often with scarcely any specie 
or real money of any kind. English manufacturers by sundry 
devices avoided the tariff laws and flooded the Eastern cities 
with their goods. Other causes cooperated to bring confusion 
and uncertainty in business. Great depression was the inevit- 
able result. "The years 1819 and 1820", says Benton in his 
Thirty Years' View, "were a period of gloom and agony. No 
money, either gold or silver; no paper convertible into specie; 
no measure or standard of value left remaining. . . . No price 
for property or produce. No employment for industry, no 
demand for labor, no sale for the product of the farm, no sound 
of the hammer, but that of the auctioneer knocking down 
property". Benton knew the West, and perhaps he did not 
exaggerate the conditions. This was the first of those severe 
commercial panics which have during the century swept over 
our country. 

The United States Bank was charged by many with bringing 
on the hard times, for which it seems indeed to have been in 
part responsible. Some of the States tried 
Bank. ^ '""^ ^° prevent it from establishing branch banks 
within their limits. In the case of McCulloch vs. 
Maryland, the Supreme Court decided that the bank was con- 
stitutional, and that a State could not tax the bank, as it was 
an agent of the United States. ^ For some time, however, in the 

^ See McMaster, History of People of U. S., Vol. IV, pp. 495 and follow- 
ing; Babcock, Rise of American Nationality, 294-296. 

In the case of McCulloch vs. Maryland, Judge Marshall fully states the 



260 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION" 

West the establishment of branch banks was resisted, and in , 
Ohio the bank was for a while practically an outlaw. 1 

Soon after the close of the war there came a demand for 
the protection of American manufactures. The long period 
of war in Europe, the embargo, and the non- 
intercourse policy had resulted in the encourage- 
ment of manufacturing in this country, because the products of 
France and England were not brought into our ports and into 
competition with the home product. After the war English 
goods were thrown upon our market in large quantities. To 
protect manufacturers and to make the country independent of 
foreign countries, a tariff law was passed (1816). This was in 
a considerable measure a protective tariff, and to all practical 
purposes the first of that kind.^ It was supported by the 
South and West. Its strongest opponent was Daniel Webster, 
representing the commercial interests of New England. In the 
course of a few years the South became opposed to the tariff and 
the North in favor of it.^ 

In one respect the country was still backward and had made 

but little progress for a generation. Though the people were 

now spreading over a vast territory and were daily 

Need of good . . t_ ii. r j j 

roads growmg m numbers, there were tew good roads 

and no canals; the stage coaches or the big covered 

wagons with their loads of weary passengers still bumped along 

over abominable roads; save in the more populous portions of the 

doctrine of "implied powers" which we will remember Hamilton announced 
in connection with the first bank bill: Congress, under the Constitution, 
has the power to select suitable means for carrying out the powers plainly- 
granted. 

^ By a protective tariff is meant a tariff which provides certain duties 
on foreign goods entering the country at a higher rate than is needed to 
supply adequate revenue for the government; the purpose of protection is 
to keep out foreign goods or to raise their price in order that manufacturers 
at home may afford to manufacture. This tariff was not solely or espe- 
cially a protective measure; the obtaining of revenue was probably the lead- 
ing purpose. 

- The time was not far distant when many men at the South would 
echo the words that John Randolph, of Virginia, used in the debate upon 
this tariff bill: "Upon whom bears the duty on coarse woolens and blankets. 



NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT; INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS 261 

Eastern States, it is almost flattery to speak of highways. 
New commonwealths had already been founded beyond the 
mountains but they were still separated from the eastern sea- 
board by long dreary stretches of forest, threaded here and there 
by rough wagon roads, or by an occasional bridle trail. 
The rapid peopling of the West, which was one of the most 
marked facts of the day, now made an imperative demand for 
respectable highways; no nation could be great and strong 
without means of communication. 

In Jefferson's time something had been done; as early as 

1806 money had been appropriated for what was known as the 

Cumberland Road. This was to run from the 

Constitutional potomac ovcr the mountains and into the West. 

questions. , -i r 

Something over a hundred miles of road had been 
built by 1816, when Calhoun introduced a bill to use the pro- 
ceeds which the Government received from the bank for internal 



pAe n n. 




The Cumberland Road 

improvements. This bill was vetoed by Madison on the ground 
of unconstitutionality. Some years later Monroe vetoed the 
so-called Cumberland Road bill for the same reason. This 
looked as if a policy of strict construction was to be again taken 
up. But this was almost the only sign of a wish to return to 
the narrow policy the Republicans had favored twenty years 
before. Experience and the war had done much to crush out a 
timorous dread of governmental power. It is interesting to 



on salt and the necessaries of life? Upon poor men and slave owners". 
The Southerners as a rule seemed to believe in 1816 that factories would 
spring up at the South, under the encouragement of the tariff. 
18 



262 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



notice that Calhoun and some other southern men were then 
strong advocates of such internal improvements and of a broad 
national policy. "Let it not be forgotten", said Calhoun, 
"let it be forever kept in mind, that the extent of our republic 
exposes us to the greatest of all calamities, next to the loss 
of liberty, and even to that in consequence — disunion ". 

Fears of constitutional authority to build roads could do no 
more than delay the movement for better means of communica- 
tion between the West and the eastern seaboard, 
state appro- Eastern merchants and western farmers alike 
pria ions. wanted roads and canals. The Federal Govern- 

ment might not act or it might appropriate money only 
with hesitation; but the States could build roads within 
their limits. Pennsylvania spent money freely on turnpikes and 
even South Carolina and Virginia took similar steps. But 
New York, in a position of great advantage, made the most im- 
portant improvement; on the east her confines touched the At- 
lantic where the Hudson rolled down in a magnificent current 
to the sea; on the west was Lake Erie offering wide and free 
communication with the interior; the Appalachian chain, which 
formed a barrier further south, opened up in central New York 




The Erie Canal 
as if inviting a waterway from the ocean 
to the lakes. 

The state took up the enterprise, under 
the leadership of De Witt Clinton. The 
Tu -c • r^ . canal project was at first ridi- 

The Erie Canal. ^ •' 

culed as "Clinton's Ditch", 
but his untiring energy and faith over- 
came ridicule and obstinate opposition; and final results justified 



t-Qi/^ 



NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT; INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS 263 



his unflagging zeal. The Erie Canal was built, a waterway 
some three hundred and sixty miles in length, from the 
Hudson to Lake Erie. It was linished in 1825. The most 
enthusiastic person could scarcely have foreseen how great 
would be the influence of the canal in building up the 
commerce of New York City and enriching the state. "At this 
epoch", we are told, "the history of modern New York properly 
begins". By this easy route emigrants found their way to the 
regions of the Old Northwest and the goods from eastern mer- 
chants were carried to the consumers of the interior. In this 
way the products of the western farms found an outlet to the 
factory and the sea. The Old Northwest — which was, in 




A Lock on the Erie Canal 
From an old print 

fact, still young and largely undeveloped — entered now upon 
a new phase of life. In 1826, there were seven steamers on 
Lake Erie, and four years later a daily line was running be- 
tween Buffalo and Detroit. 

The growth of the West, to which we have already referred^ 
was phenomenal in the early decades of the century. There 
had long been an intermittent stream of migration over the 



264 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



mountains from the seacoast States. Whenever times were bad 
or the ocean commerce was seriously interfered with, many- 
Migration to turned their faces westward and sought new 
the West. homes, expecting to begin life over again in the 

wilderness. Between 1810 and 1816 the population of Ohio in- 
creased fr6m two hundred and thirty thousand to about four 
hundred thousand. In the same period the number of people in 
Indiana leaped from twenty-four thousand to nearly three 
times that number. The Southern seacoast States poured their 
citizens into Illinois and the Territories of the Southwest. INIany 
of the Eastern States were almost stationary in population.' 
North Carolina complained that within twenty-five years 
two hundred thousand people had removed to the waters 
of the Ohio and Tennessee. Virginia, "the Old Domin- 
ion", might almost be said to be the mother of States as 





The Conestoga Wagon 
well as of Presidents. "While many other States", reported a 
committee of her legislature, " have been advancing in wealth and 
numbers with a rapidity which has astonished themselves, the 
ancient Dominion and elder sister of the Union has remained sta- 
tionary. . . . The fathers of the land are gone where another 
outlet to the ocean turns their thoughts from the place of their 
nativity, and their affections from the haunts of their youth". 

After 1816, the tide of migration to the West became a 
mighty current. "We are", said Calhoun at that time, "greatly 

and rapidly, — I was about to say fearfully grow- 
^Twe^st*^ ** i^g"- Steamboats plied up and down the western 

rivers^ and travelers thronged the roads to the 

^ By 1820 there were sixty steamboats on the Mississippi and Ohio; a 
decade later four times that number. Steamers plied, too, up and down 
the larger tributaries. 



NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT; INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS 265 

interior. "Old America seems to be breaking up and moving 
westward", wrote a traveler on the Cumberland road in 1817. 
" We are scarcely out of sight, as we travel on this grand tract, 
toward the Ohio, of family groups, behind and before us. . . . 
A small wagon (so light you might almost carry it, yet strong 
enough to bear a great load of bedding, utensils and provisions, 




Steamboat on the Mississippi 
From Ripley's Social Life in Old New Orleans 

and a swarm of young citizens — and to sustain marvelous 
shocks in its passage over these rocky heights) with two small 
horses; sometimes a cow or two, comprise their all; excepting 
a little store of hard-earned cash for the land office of the dis- 
trict; where they may obtain a title for as many acres as they 
possess half dollars, being one-fourth of the purchase money". ^ 
Arrived at their destination, these hardy pioneers would settle 
in the forest, build a rude log cabin, begin the work of felling 
the trees or of killing them by girdling, plant a little patch of 
corn, and thus enter upon a new life in the wUderness. " Ameri- 
ca", it was said, "was born in a cabin". 



* At that time a settler could buy land, three-fourths on credit, at two 
dollars per acre; in 1820 a law was passed providing that a purchaser could 
buy eighty acres from the government at one dollar and a quarter, without 
credit. 



266 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

From the southern Atlantic states the pilgrims moved west- 
ward and began the foundation of new commonwealths; plant- 
ers with cattle and with slaves established new 
Movements plantations in the rich river valleys of the gulf 

within the West, t^ ^ i -kt i o i r 

region. From the Northern states the farmer 
made his way over the mountains into the Old Northwest. 
Even from the older sections of the West men passed on 
to the frontier — north into Indiana and Illinois, or south 
into Alabama and Mississippi. Movements such as these 
were typical and characteristic facts in the history of American 
settlement, for the frontiersman was often restless and was no 
sooner established in one place than he began to think he could 
do better farther on. In 1816, when Abraham Lincoln was a lad 
of seven years, his father took the family from Kentucky, 
across the Ohio, into Indiana, made his way into the forest, 
built a "half -faced" camp in which to pass the first dreary 
winter, and began his new struggle against the wilderness. 

Not all of the pioneers were poor; some of the Southerners 
moving into the lower part of the gulf region were well-to-do 
and went prepared to begin their big plantations, 
labor*^"*"^ but the hardy pioneer of the West had as a rule 
but little property. He began his new life in 
simplest fashion; he met want and he suffered privation; he 
had little to rely upon save his own hard work; and he needed 
to be self-reliant, industrious, and patient. 

If we would understand American life we must understand 
the frontier and we must see that as men worked to conquer the 
wilderness all their tasks and methods of life 
the "render helped to make American character; social dis- 
tinctions — fine education, honorable ancestry — 
had no special value to the man whose business it was to fell 
trees, plant corn, build a cabin, and force his way to comfort 
by dint of his own unaided energy. There is an old saying 
and a true one that men are what they do or, as an old 
Spanish writer said, that a man is the child of his own deeds. 
Thus the American man of the great valley was the child of 
hard work, of strong, steady labor which he must do for him- 



NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT; INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS 267 



self. He must be independent and self dependent — an "in- 
dividualist" the philosopher would call him — a man who trusted 
in himself, who wanted to 



be left alone by theorists 
and by men who did not 
know what practical toil 
meant. He stood face to 
face with the tasks of the 
wilderness. That man 
was greatest among the 
pioneers who could do 
better than others the 
jobs that all had to do. 
And yet the Missis- 




A Frontier Log Cabin 



New States. 



sippi Valley did not long remain a wilderness. The population 
of the West in 1800 was less than 400,000, includ- 
ing Kentucky and Tennessee; in 1820 it was 
considerably over 2,000,000.^ Towns sprang up in the 
Old Northwest, and big plantations stretched along the 
river beds of the southern states. In 1816 Indiana came 
into the Union; Mississippi (18 17), Illinois (1818), Alabama 
(1819), Missouri (182 1), followed in quick succession. The 
United States had entered fairly upon a new stage of its 
existence. In 1775 there were thirteen colonies scattered along 
the Atlantic coast; their traditions were colonial; they looked 
eastward across three thousand miles of water to a mother 
country whose leading strings they were ready to cast aside. 
Forty years later only four States had been formed west of 
the mountains; the people still looked toward Europe, and their 
politics were largely shaped by foreign conditions. In 1820 
there were eight States in the Mississippi Valley, and every- 
where a Western vigor and energy showed themselves. No 
longer was the United States a row of seacoast republics, but an 



^ The population of the whole United States grew rapidly during this 
time partly because of immigration from foreign lands. In 1820 there were 
9,638,453 people in the country. 



268 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

empire stretching away to the interior, giving visions of con- 
tinental dominion. In the great valley won from France in 
the momentous conflict seventy-five years before, the American 
people were now waxing strong, regardless and forgetful of old 
colonial dependence, and heedless of European politics. 

The westward movement made the acquisition of Florida 
important. From the beginning of the century our Govern- 
ment had been desirous of getting possession of 
Fio'rida!'°° ° ^^^^ region. It will be remembered that West 
Florida had been claimed as part of the Louisiana 
purchase, on the ground that the original Louisiana — that is 
to say, "Louisiana as it was in the hands of France" — had ex- 
tended to the east of Mobile Bay, and even to the Perdido. In 
i8io^ a considerable portion of this territory was occupied by 
American troops, and in the early part of 1813 Mobile was taken 
and a fort built at the entrance of the harbor. But for some 
years after this the rest of the Floridas remained in the hands 
of Spain. In 1818 General Andrew Jackson, engaged in fight- 
ing the Seminole Indians who were then at war, entered Florida 
and hanged two Englishmen, on the ground that they had given 
aid and comfort to the Seminoles and were but "outlaws and 
pirates". This showed that the province was not in reality 
governed by Spain, but was at our mercy. In 181Q Spain ceded 
Florida to the United States. In payment, the United States 
agreed to pay the claims of our citizens against Spain to the 
amount of $5,000,000. The western boundary of Louisiana 
was at the same time determined; we surrendered any claim we 
might have to the Texas country, and Spain gave up all claim 
to land north of the forty-second parallel.- The treaty was not 
ratified by Spain till 182 1. 

^ A proclamation was issued by Madison in 1810 ordering the seizure 
and possession of the land "south of the Mississippi Territory and east- 
ward of the Mississippi, and extending to the river Perdido". 

" See the map on page 272. This line of 1819 is important. It ran 
up the west branch of Sabine River to 32° latitude and thence due 
north to the Red River; thence up the Red River to longitude 100°; 
thence due north to the Arkansas River; thence along the south bank of 
the Arkansas to its source, in latitude 42°, or by a direct line from its 
source to the 42d parallel; thence due west to the Pacific. 



I NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT; INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS 269 

Westward expansion brought up the slavery question; the 

pr()blem entered on a new phase. Was slavery to occupy the 

great West? Was it to grow stronger and stronger 

The West , , j j i 

and slavery. ^^ ^^^ lands wcrc Opened and new chances were 
given for growing tobacco, cotton and sugar cane? 
Was there any method of confining the slave system to the old 
limits or preventing it from spreading far and wide over the 
national domain? This question began to loom large on the 
horizon by 1818, and soon far-seeing men realized that the 
nation was faced by a serious problem threatening, in years to 
come, the very existence of the nation. Up to that time men 
had scarcely appreciated the gravity of the slavery question or 
they had not seen that the nation was developing two distinct 
systems of labor and of social life. Both sections were reach- 
ing out for new territory; which system of labor would 
prevail? 

When the Constitution was formed all the States save Massa- 
chusetts and New Hampshire had slaves, but everywhere in the 
North the institution was losing ground. At the 
on'siave^!""^ North the industry and life of the people were not 
materially influenced by slave labor; at the South 
society was built upon that system. But in the South as 
well as in the North it was considered by thinking men an 
evil. The ablest Virginia statesmen lamented the existence of 
slavery and foretold its baneful effect. In the Philadelphia 
convention George Mason, of Virginia, used these words: 
"Slavery discourages arts and manufactures. The poor 
despise labor when performed by slaves. They prevent the 
emigration of whites, who really enrich and strengthen a coun- 
try. They produce the most pernicious effect on manners. 
Every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant. They bring the 
judgment of Heaven on a country. As nations can not be re- 
warded or punished in the next world, they must be in this. By 
an inevitable chain of causes and effects, Providence punishes 
national sins by national calamities". 

It is true that the delegates from the most southern States 
contended in the convention for permission to introduce slaves, 



270 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



and the Constitution in consequence declared such introduction 

should not be prohibited before January i, 1808.^ And it is 

true that at a later time representatives in Con- 

The North does n i • i , 

not realize the grcss ironi these Same btates bitterly resented at- 
growth of tacks upon slavery. But the Northern men were 

savery. ^^^ some years deluded by the hope that in the 

natural course of events slavery would disappear from the 
South, as it was everywhere disappearing in the North. In 
1807 a bill was passed making the importation of slaves illegal 
after the end of the year, and later the President was authorized 
to use the ships of war to stop the African slave trade. Upon 
neither of these matters was there great discussion or excite- 
ment, and the North slumbered on, in large measure regardless 
of the fact that slavery was winding ever more firmly its coils 
about the Southern States, that opinion in Virginia was changed, 
that already the lower part of the Mississippi Valley was utterly 
given over to the system. 

The greatest reason for the extension of slavery and for its 
gaining a stronger hold than had seemed possible forty years 

before lay in 

the fact that 

cotton raising 
had become a widespread 
industry, an industry for 
which slave labor was well 
fitted. First had come the 
invention of the cotton gin 
in 1793; Eli Whitney, a 
Connecticut schoolmaster 
visiting in the South, dis- 
covered a method of ex- 
tracting the seed from the 
cotton which enabled one 
slave to do the work of 
fifty. Then the introduc- 



Slavery and 
cotton. 




An Early Cotton Gin 



^ Constitution, art. i, sec. 9, § i. 



NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT; INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS 271 

tion of new machinery for spinning and weaving, the use of 
steam, the building up of factories in England and the north- 
ern States, made a new demand for cotton. It was discov- 
ered, too, that good cotton could be raised in the upland 
country of the seaboard States, and, with the peopling of the 
fertile virgin tracts of the Southwest, cotton raising began to 
be of immense importance. The price of slaves rose; slave 
labor was in demand; the slavery system was fastened upon 
the South. 

Thus, as the North was reaching out for new farms in the 
West, where the pioneer made his own home in the forests or 

tilled his own land; as factories and workshops 
poUtics. increased in number, and the Northern people 

were growing strong and rich on the basis of 
modern free labor, the South was growing on the basis of 
slave labor; and suddenly the truth was seen that North and 
South, with different industrial systems, held different senti- 
ments on the subject of slavery.^ Slavery became a political 
question, aroused the fear of men, and stirred them to bitterness 
in debate. Although the North had been gaining in population 
more rapidly than the South, slave States and free States had 
been admitted into the Union alternately, and the balance be- 
tween the sections had been kept in the Senate, where each 
State had equal weight with every other. A proposition to ex- 
clude slavery from a State seeking admission disclosed to the 
people how widely they had drifted asunder. 

When Missouri asked for admission to the Union in 1819, 
the lower house of Congress passed an act providing for udmis- 

sion but also providing against the further intro- 
controveTsy!" duction of more slaves within the State and the 

gradual freeing of those already there. The Sen- 
ate rejected the measure in this form, and, as debate followed de- 
bate, the whole country was aroused to a high pitch of excite- 

^ By 1820 the men of the South did not as a rule defend the existence of 
slavery or maintain that slavery in itself was good but they were pre- 
pared to resent Northern attacks; and year by year the system secured a 
firmer hold. 



272 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



ment. Now Maine, about to separate from Massachusetts, asked 
admission as a State. The friends of slavery sought to make the 
admission of Maine, dependent on the admission of Missouri 
without any provision against slavery. A compromise was 
finally agreed upon (1820). It provided for the admission of 




Free and Slave Areas After 1820 

Missouri as a slave State, but with this exception there was to 
be no slavery in the territory purchased from France under the 
name of Louisiana north of the line 36° 30'. Maine was also 
admitted.^ Thus an understanding between the sections was 
reached. Missouri was to come in as a slave State, but in all 
the wide domain to the north and west there were to be no more 



^ The line of 36° 30' is the northern line of North Carolina. The north- 
ern boundary of Tennessee varies slightly from this parallel, running 
somewhat to the north, between the mountains and the Cumberland River. 
West of that river the line of 36° 30' is the northern boundary. West of 
the Mississippi the line is shown on the map. 

The Compromise did not say that no more slave states should come in; 
but that in the territory purchased from France in 1803 there should be no 
slaves north of 36° 30'; if slavery could not exist in the territory, there was 
little chance of the formation of a slave state. 



NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT; INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS 273 

slaves. The northern people could for a time breathe easily, 
feeling that slavery expansion was permanently checked. 

The act we have just mentioned was an "enabling act"; it 
authorized Missouri to form a constitution and make prepara- 
tion to enter the Union. When Missouri pre- 
e secon com- ggj-^^g^^ herself for final admission, it was discovered 

promise, 1821. _ _ ' 

that her constitution contained a clause forbidding 
the entrance of fr-e^egroes. This caused difficulty anew; but 
a compromise was adopted, through Clay's effort, whereby 
Missouri was admitted, but with the understanding that citizens 
of other States should not be deprived of their rights under the 
Federal Constitution of going to Missouri.^ 

Thus the cleavage between slavery and freedom was clearly 
marked by a geographical line. This whole bitter controversy 

showed the people how they differed. It rang out, 
Two distinct g^.^ ^^g ^ . Jefferson, "like a fire-bell in the 

sections. o j j 

night". There were now two sections well defined, 
differing more and more as the years went by in industrial and 
social makeup. For each succeeding year the South was more 
under the influence of this one institution, while the North was 
developing like the rest of the civilized world, free from the 
weight of slavery. 

One of the most important problems that arose in these 
years grew out of our relations with the states of Central and 

South America. After the close of the Napoleonic 

The South ,, , r- • , • , , • r 

American States wars, all the Spanish contmentai colonies from 
and the Holy Mexico to the far south, one by one, threw off the 
yoke of Spain, and finally succeeded in sustaining 
themselves as independent powers. At this same time the so- 
called "Holy Alliance" was formed in Europe, made up of the 
most powerful monarchs of the Continent. Its chief aim was 
to check the growth of democracy, and to strengthen the hold of 
absolutism on the people. As long as the work of the Holy 
Alliance was confined to Europe we had no ground of complaint; 
but there began to be signs that government by the people was 

^ See Constitution, art. iv, sec. 2, § i. 



274 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

not safe from interference even on this continent; that efforts 
would be made to overthrow the free governments set up in 
Central and South America, and compel the return of these 
states to Spanish control. In addition to this trouble, our Gov- 
ernment was somewhat uneasy over the fact that Russia showed 
an inclination to creep down the western coast of North America 
and to claim land considerably south of what might justly be 
considered her right. 

Under these circumstances Monroe sent to Congress (De- 
cember, 1823) a message which contained a statement of the 

foreign policy of the United States. There were 
doctrine """^ two chief propositions: That any attempt on the 

part of the European powers "to extend their sys- 
tem to any portion of this hemisphere" would be considered 
''as dangerous to our peace and safety", and that any effort to 
oppress the South American states or to control their destiny 
would be viewed as a "manifestation of an unfriendly disposi- 
tion toward the United States." Second — as a warning to Russia 
— that the American continents were no longer " to be considered 
as subjects for future colonization by any European power". The 
next year Russia entered into a treaty with us, agreeing not to 
claim territory south of 54° 40', the present southern boundary 
of Alaska.^ Monroe's message undoubtedly made the Holy 
Alliance pause and consider. England was in sympathy with 
our action. "This crowning effort of Monroe's career contrasted 
well with that to which it stood opposed, for the main motive 
was to shelter honorably these tender blossoms of liberty on 
kindred soil from the cold Siberian blasts of depotism".- 

' The Monroe Doctrine, as it was announced in 1823, had its roots in 
the past (see Oilman's Monroe, chap. vii). And it now means more than 
it did in 1823. "On its negative side it is a strong jealousy in respect to 
European interference in any and all matters that are peculiarly American, 
and particularly North American. In a word, it is the national resolution 
to assert and to maintain the leadership that the people believe both Nature 
and history have assigned to them on the two continents". It is a senti- 
ment produced by historical and geographical conditions; it is in no proper 
sense a principle of international law. 

^ Schouler's History, vol. iii, p. 291. 



NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT; INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS 275 

References 

Hart, Formation of the Union, Chapter XI; Burgess, The Middle 
Period, Chapters I, II, V; Oilman, James Monroe, Chapters VI-VIII; 
ScHURZ, Henry Clay, Volume I, Chapters VI-VIII; von Holst, 
Calhoun, pp. 26-60; Sumner, Andrew Jackson, Chapter III. Longer 
accounts: McMaster, Volume IV, pp. 280-600; Volume V, pp. 1-54, 
ScHOULER, Volume III, pp. 1-259, 271-303; Babcock, Rise of Ameri- 
can Nationality, Chapters XII-XVIII; Turner, Rise of the New 
West, Chapters I-XII, XIV. 



CHAPTER XV 

PARTY REORGANIZATION; PERSONAL AND SECTIONAL 

DISPUTE 

The period we have just been studying, a period of marked 
expansion and of industrial growth, brought political changes. 
The old party divisions, as we have seen, had 
democracy practically disappeared; every one, save a few 

malcontents, who looked back with longing on the 
old Federalist days, prided himself on being a Republican. But ' 
there were more fundamental changes still ; the country had by 
1824 become more thoroughly democratic than it had been fifty 
years before or even when Jefferson came into office and an- 
nounced his popular doctrine. 

It had become more democratic in the sense that there was 
greater readiness to trust the people, less suspicion of popular 
judgment; and on the other hand, among the main body of the 
people, there was more self-confidence and assurance. Western 
development had had much to do with these changes; the West 
did not know class distinctions; the West grew and prospered 
under the hands of the men who had settled there as woodsmen ; 
these pioneers had made constitutions, founded governments, 
and managed the affairs of state. Western constitutions were 
free from such restrictions as had limited the suffrage in the . 
early constitutions of the older states; and now the Eastern 
States, influenced probably by Western example and filled with 
a new confidence in popular government, began to change the'r 
constitutions by striking out the old restrictions on the suffrage 
and on the right to hold office. There were other signs that gov- 
ernments were to be the people's governments more fully 
and truly than ever before. Jeffersonian democracy had 
been in part theory alone; the new democracy was real, prac- 
tical, self-assertive, strong. One of the early manifestations 

276 






PARTY REORGANIZATION 277 

of new popular sentiment showed itself in the election of 
1824. 

While everybody or nearly everybody called himself a Re- 
publican and asserted deepest devotion to the fame and the 
principles of the dear old Jeffersonian party, the 
Who IS to be political leaders and their supporters were bitterly 
hostile, and the party was divided into cliques and 
factions, each gathered around its chosen guide or favorite states- 
man. Though there were many matters of public policy about 
which men might differ, policies did not take shape as party 
beliefs or find expression in what we now call platforms. The 
contest therefore waged about persons, and the great question 
was, who should be the president? 

Soon after parties came into existence in Washington's ad- 
ministration, methods for nominating candidates for the pres- 
idency were introduced. The constitution pro- 
sionai Caucus, "^ided for clectors who were supposed to choose 
the man they desired; each elector could vote for 
anyone whom he thought best fitted for the ofiice. But, with 
the rise of parties, this free choice disappeared; the electors 
voted for the candidate of their party, a man already pointed 
out in accordance with some method of party nomination. The 
Republicans used the Congressional Caucus to nominate candi- 
dates; the members of the party in Congress met together and 
announced the men of their choice. Now while there were two 
active parties, such a method of nomination, though not ap- 
proved by everybody, was accepted without serious opposition; 
but it is plain that, after the Federalists had disappeared, the 
mere nomination by the Republican congressmen would be 
equivalent to an election, unless there were other means of 
putting forth candidates. By 1824 opposition to the caucus 
system had grown up. It was felt by many persons that 
officeholders held altogether too much power and that, when 
Congress assumed the right to nominate candidates for the 
Presidency, it was time to object. New, western, self-con- 
fident democracy was out of patience with the notion that 
Congressmen should tell the people whom to vote for, 
19 



^78 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



There were four men ambitious for the presidency in 1824, 
Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay and William 
H. Crawford. Adams was the favorite of the 
New Englanders, and in general of the more con- 
servative people in the East; tradition moreover 
pointed to the Secretary of State as a sort of heir 
Clay, a simple Westerner, with manners of a cour- 
tier and the charm of a winning personality, had warm admirers 
everywhere. Crawford, of Georgia, the Secretary of the Treas- 



King Caucus 
and the 
candidates. 



apparent. 




The Election of 1824 



ury, a capable man and a shrewd politician, was backed by 
many of the office-holders and the political workers. Jackson, 
a picturesque figure who had made a strong impression on the 
great mass of the plain people, had wide support in the West, 
where he seemed to typify the vigor, self-reliance, and sim- 
plicity of the frontier. Of them all, Crawford was the best 
politician; he controlled the caucus and was nominated in the 
"regular" way. But the friends of the others did not yield. 
Who was "King Caucus", they asked, that it should decide this 
matter? Why should a handful of Congressmen nominate the 



PARTY REORGANIZATION 279 

President and expect the people to ratify their choice? The 
people were competent to attend to such matters themselves. 

So, though Crawford had secured the coveted nomination,, 
it did him little good. State legislatures now put forth the 

names of the candidates they preferred, and thus 
Adams. Adams, Clay and Jackson were nominated. The 

result of the election that followed was surprising; 
for the East had not been able to take Jackson, the frontiersman 
and Indian fighter, quite seriously. Adams received 84 elec- 
toral votes; Crawford 41, Clay, 37, while Jackson received 99. 
The New West had thrown down the gauntlet; ^ " the man of the 
people" had run more than an even race against his strong, 
experienced competitors. As no one received a majority of elec- 
toral votes, the choice of one from the three highest was thrown 
upon the House of Representatives.^ Clay, whose influence in 
Congress was great, favored Adams, and the New Englander 
was elected, much to the disgust of Jackson's friends, who 
claimed that the will of the people had been disregarded, and 
that Adams and Clay had entered into a corrupt bargain. 
There was no difficulty about the vice-presidency, Calhoun 
having been elected without serious opposition. 

The election of 1824 was the first one in which the people 
of the country as a whole took a wids and deep interest. Four 

years later there was even more interest, and it 
Convent^n* ™^ was evident that the common voter was to have 

his say about what went on. Thanks to the new 
suffrage laws and the awakened feeling that the people had both 
power and sense, men took an ever increasing part in political 
affairs. There was no chance that they would again put up 
with nominations by a Congressional caucus; for they thought 
that they could select candidates as well as vote for them. In 
1 83 1 a national nomination convention was held by a party 
known as the Anti-Masonic party, and the other parties fol- 
lowed that method of nomination. It is an interesting and im- 



1 Jackson and Clay together, both Westerners, though strongly opposed, 
received more votes than the other two. 
^ See Constitution, Amendment XII. 



280 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



End of era of 
good feeling. 



portant fact that this method — the introduction of a represen- 
tative convention — was thought to take the power of nomina- 
tion and direction out of the hands of a few poHtical leaders and 
put it into the hands of the main body of the party; we know 
now that the convention system was not entirely a success, and 
as years went by the convention was to be attacked as vicious 
and corrupt' — as a means whereby a few poHtical leaders could 
proclaim nomination rather than act as the agents of the people. 
This struggle over the nominating system was a struggle to 
realize popular government; no people can control their govern- 
ment unless they can determine for themselves who shall be 
nominated as candidates, as well as what candidates shall be 
elected. 

The " era of good feeling " was 
at an end. There had been more 
or less ill feeling all 
the time. Political 
questions had often 
been bitterly discussed, and per- 
sonal animus had often taken the 
place of political principle. As 
yet, however, parties with princi- 
ples were not formed; for some 
years after this men spoke of 
"Jackson men" and ''Adams 
men". But the elements of party 
organization were at hand, and 
out of the bitterness of personal 
contests parties with principles 
were sure soon to arise. 

John Quincy Adams was worthy of the office bestowed on 
him. He had been for thirty years in public life. He had been 
foreign minister, senator, and, during Monroe's 
administrations. Secretary of State. His charac- 
ter was beyond reproach. He was scrupulously 




3. H. Jd 



ouy^TLS 



John Quincy 
Adams. 



^ See in later chapters the account of the introduction of the "direct 
primary". 



PARTY REORGANIZATION 281 

honest, his straightforwardness amounting to bluntness. Though 
he was ambitious, he was not meanly self-seeking, and he de- 
voted himself untiringly and unselfishly to the duties of his 
office. He was not actuated by petty motive, and never con- 
sented to make use of improper means to secure power or influ- 
ence. Able as well as honest, he was one of the best officers that 
ever served a people. High-minded himself, he demanded 
purity in others, and his caustic criticism of the motives and acts 
of his fellows often estranged those whom he might have won 
as his friends. He was formal and cold in his manners, and 
had no great tact or talent as a political leader. 

Adams made Clay his Secretary of State. It was a natural 
choice; for the two men thought alike on political issues, and 
Clay certainly merited the distinction. But the 
corrupu\)n appointment gave countenance to those who as- 

serted that, by making promise of the secretary- 
ship, Adams had secured his own election. The charge was 
utterly unfounded; but it was believed by many, and had no 
little effect on the public mind. Throughout the administra- 
tion, the friends of Jackson proclaimed without ceasing that the 
"people's candidate" had been defrauded of his rights.^ 

There was much personal bitterness during these four years. 
The people were divided into "Adams men" and "Jackson 
men". Yet the elements of distinct political par- 
new'p^rtfes." ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ principles were clearly enough in 
existence, and Adams, both by selecting the 
founder of the "American system"^ as his Secretary of State, 
and by favoring in his first message a broad and liberal policy 

^ John Randolph, a master of malicious abuse, referred to the "corrupt 
coalition between the Puritan and blackleg", and called the administra- 
tion a "puritanic-diplomatic-blacklegged administration". Clay chal- 
lenged him to a duel, and a meeting occurred. Neither was injured. Ben- 
ton records the affair, and ends: "On Monday the parties exchanged cards 
and social relations were . . . restored. It was about the last high-toned 
duel that I have witnessed, and among the highest toned that I have ever 
witnessed". Fortunately we have outgrown that condition of society. 

^ Clay had favored a protective tariff, a real "American system", as 
he called it. 



282 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

for the National Government actually announced the begin- 
nings of a new party. The message advocated appropriations 
for roads and canals, and advised the establishment of a national 
university and the creation of an astronomical observatory — 
''a lighthouse of the skies". Such words naturally antagonized 
many who were averse to such appropriations. Adams and 
others did not see the situation. They did not see that the old 
party was torn asunder, and that two new parties were at hand; 
they considered the differing factions as wings of the old Repub- 
lican party. Except by making a clear statement of principles, 
notjiing was done by the President to organize an Administra- 
tion party. The friends of liberal construction and of the tariff 
formed slowly around Clay as their leader, rather than around 
Adams, and began before 1828 to call themselves "National 
Republicans". The strict-constructionists called themselves 
Democratic Republicans, and before many years were commonly 
known as Democrats. 

Owing to a number of causes, a good many persons joined 
the party opposed to the Administration, not because they ob- 
jected to internal improvements or like measures, 
characteristics. ^^^ bccausc they disliked Adams and liked Jack- 
son. So this party, which included the strict-con- 
structionists, was for some time uncertain of its own policy. 
Indeed, the exact views of Jackson himself were uncertain. 
Through these years many persons summed up their political 
creed in the war-cry "Hurrah for Jackson"! and it proved in 
itself an unanswerable argument. And yet, although at first 
the party of opposition, as such parties are apt to be, was some- 
what uncertain in its beliefs and fundamental principles, and 
contained a number of incoherent elements, nevertheless the 
differing factions of the old Republican party were, before the 
next election, formed into parties, each with its own character- 
istics and natural tendencies. The national Republican party 
was similar in some respects to the old Federalists; but it cast 
away, as unsuited to American politics, the exclusive, superior 
tone which had characterized the followers of Hamilton. The 
people at large were appealed to by both parties; but the natural 



PARTY REORGANIZATION 283 

enthusiasm for Jackson, "the man of the people", called into 
the ranks of the opposition the masses of the people and made 
it a real democratic party. 

Adams' administration of four years (1825-1829) was not a 
time of great achievement, though the President managed the 
affairs of the government wisely and well. He was all the time 
harassed by opposition in Congress; and thousands, insisting 
that the will of the people had been violated in 1824, looked 
forward to the next election when they could make good their 
claims and put Jackson in the White House. 

Few matters could be taken up in those days without sec- 
tional dispute or some kind of personal or party difference. 
Internal improvements were loudly demanded by 
impr'^ements. ^^^ ^^^ °^ ^^^ ^^^ West and by some of the East- 
ern men; but the South had come to look with 
suspicion on the expenditure of money for things which appeared 
to enrich only the commercial States of the north and from 
which she received no returns. Something was done in the way 
of building and improving roads, and money was appropriated for 
the bettering of harbors. But all such steps were taken in the 
face of opposition and distrust. While men were thus bickering 
over the old subject of roads and canals, and while the States 
were here and there making improvements of importance, it 
became evident that a new means of transportation was at 
hand — the railroad. 

Horse railroads had been in use for some little time, and va- 
rious efforts had been made both in this country and in England 
., _, to use steam as a motive force. ^ As early as 18 14 

The railroad. 01 • i • 

George Stephenson, an Englishman, invented a 
"traveling engine", which he named "My Lord". Some years 
later (1825) the Stockton and Darlington Railway was opened, 
and Stephenson acted as engineer on a trial trip of his new loco- 

1 The earliest roads were built with wooden rails, and afterward these 
were covered with bands or strips of iron. Horses furnished the motive 
power. The first road of this kind seems to have been built as early as 1807, 
in Boston. The first steam locomotive used in this country was brought 
from England in 1829, and was called the "Stourbridge Lion". 



284 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICx\N NATION 



motive. The success of this enterprise encouraged the building 
of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. On this line (1829) 
Stephenson tried the " Rocket ", which sped away at the astound- 
ing pace of twenty-nine miles an hour. "Canal property is 
ruined", wrote a correspondent from London; "in fact they are 
even anticipating that it. may be necessary to let the canals dry 
and to lay rails on them". 

nOSTON AND WORCESTER RAIL ROAD.^ 




THE Passenger Cars will coniinue to run daily from the 
Drpol near VVashingion street, lo Newion, ol 6 and 
10 o'clock, A.M. and Bt 34 o'clock, P. M. and 

Returning, leave Newion a* 7 and a quarter past II, A.iW. 
and a quarter before 5, P.M. 

"nckets Tor the passage either way may be had at the 
TicktlOfilce, No 017, Washingion street ; price 3(4 cents 
each ;Riid for the return passage, of the Master of the CarJ, 
Newton. 

By order ofthe President and Directors. 

a 29 epistf F. A WILLlAMaf, Clerk. 



Railroads in 
America. 



Advertisement or the First Passenger Train in Massachusetts, 
May, 1834 

Meantime inventors and capitalists were at work in America. 
Indeed, the success of the Stockton and Darlington Railway 
seems to have produced a greater impression on 
this side of the water than in England. New 
York was already reaping the benefit of the Erie 
Canal, but the cities farther south were still without easy means 
of communication with the West, and both Baltimore and Phila- 
delphia seem to have felt the loss of Western trade, which was 
now deflected to New York. A railroad was determined upon, 
and in 1827 a charter was issued to the Baltimore and Ohio 
road. July 4, 1828, work was actually begun, the first act being 
done by Charles Carroll of CarroUton, the only living signer 
of the Declaration of Independence. He is- said to have ex- 



PARTY REORGANIZATION 



285 



claimed: "I consider this among the most important acts of my 
life, second only to that of signing the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, if second to that ". Two years later a short section 
of this road was op^^ned for traffic. In South Carolina, too, a 
road was built running from Charleston to Hamburg, and in 
1833 this road was one hundred and thirty-five miles in length, 
then the longest road in the world. 

In 1840 there were two thousand eight hundred and eighteen 
miles of railroad in operation, and as the years went by the 
mileage increased. But no one in those early years could foresee 
the immense development of railroads, and the great changes 
they were to make in the life of the nation. The first lines con- 
nected neighboring cities, or furnished outlets from the coal 




Railway Travel in 1S31 

regions to the sea; but in time the long trunk lines were con- 
structed, stretching across the country, binding the land to- 
gether into an industrial unit. Wherever men are gathered 
together, there the railroad now goes to serve them, ready to 
carry the products of their toil to market and to bring back 
what they wish in exchange.^ 

The political significance of the railroad was almost as great 
as its social and industrial significance. The East and West 

were made one; the strong ties of commercial in- 
significance, terest and the fellowship of social communication 

bound the States of the coast to their younger 
sisters of the Mississippi Valley. The old saying that a free 
government could not exist over a wide expanse of territory was 



^ An admirable short essay on the railroads and their functions in Sha- 
ler's The United States of America, vol. ii, pp. 65-131. 



286 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

bereft of meaning, for, as the railroads were built into the West, 
Michigan and Illinois became the next-door neighbors of Massa- 
chusetts and Connecticut. 

One of the most serious difficulties with which Adams had 
to deal arose out of troubles between Georgia and the Indian 
tribes within her borders. For some years Georgia had been 

anxious to get possession of the land of the 
the°indians Creek and Cherokee Indians within the limits of 

that State. These tribes were already civilized. 
The Cherokees especially were well advanced. They had 
churches, schools, and courts of law, and had well-tilled fields 
and comfortable homes. The presence of such independent 
bodies within the State, not subject to its laws, was unnat- 
ural. Georgia desired the Indians' lands, and was not will- 
ing to wait. She demanded the immediate removal of the 
tribes beyond the Mississippi. A treaty was made by the 
National Government providing for the sale of most of the 
land of the Creeks. But Georgia would not wait until the time 
came for carrying out the treaty. State surveyors were ordered 
into the territory of the Creeks. The President forbade the 
survey.^ At first the State obeyed, but finally became very 
impatient. The Governor announced the doctrine of State sov- 
ereignty, and asserted that the State had an equal authority 
with the United States "to pass upon its rights". Adams was 
prepared to protect the Indians in their property, and ordered 
the United States District Attorney and the marshal to arrest 
any one endeavoring to survey the Indian lands west of a cer- 
tain line. The Governor prepared for resistance, and ordered 
the militia oflficers of the State to be in readiness with their 
forces to repel invasion. The majority in Congress were op- 
posed to Adams and did not wish to support him, and he hesi- 
tated, naturally, to bring on civil war on such an issue. The 
Creeks were soon compelled to leave their lands. About the 

' Indian affairs have always been under the control of the Federal Gov- 
ernment. Congress is given power to regulate commerce with Indian tribes. 
See Constitution, art. i, sec. vii, § 3. Moreover, the Creeks and the Federal 
Government had entered into treaties. 



PARTY REORGANIZATION 287 

same time encroachments were made upon the Cherokee terri- 
tory, and the final outcome was much the same as in the case 
of the Creeks. Georgia successfully maintained her " sovereign- 
ty".i 

Of course the tariff caused trouble during these years; when 
has it not? Unprotected interests, sections that appeared to reap 

nothing but higher prices, manufacturers who 
jg^^ *" ' wanted higher rates to keep out foreign goods or 

enable them to charge more for their own — all 
might find good ground for dispute over the tariff. The home- 
market argument was now used effectively by those who wanted 
to build up American factories; thus even the farmers were 
urged to support the tariff in order to make an American market 
for the products of the farm. In 1824 a new protective tariff 
bill was passed. It was favored mainly by the Middle States 
and the West north of the Ohio; it was opposed by an almost 
solid South and by part of New England. The Southerners 
objected because it meant to them higher prices for factory- 
made goods. The men of New England, Webster for example, 
opposed it because it acted as a check on commerce. 

But the bill of 1824 was not enough; the manufacturers — like 
Oliver Twist — comforted with a little, wanted more; they wanted 

higher duties and more protection. In 1828 a bill 
Tanflf of fQj. ^}^g purpose was introduced. All the interests 

abominations, r i 1 i 1 i 1 

182S. of the country began at once to push and scramble 

for recognition. The result was what is commonly 
known as the "tariff of abominations". It was an "economic 
monstrosity". The rate of duty on many articles, including raw 
materials for manufactures, was very high. So much had the 
coming presidential election been kept in view, that John Ran- 

1 This trouble with Georgia has its political significance in the fact that 
the State maintained, in some measure, its authority against the Govern- 
ment. It is also significant as an episode in the process of transferring the 
Indians to reservations in the West. The plan of confining them to reser- 
vations was fully carried out in the course of the century. During Jackson's 
administration the Cherokee lands were occupied, and Georgia success- 
fully defied the authority of the Federal court. See Schouler, History, vol. 
iv, pp. 233-235; Sumner, Andrew Jackson, pp. 180-183. 



288 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

dolph declared in a biting phrase, "The bill referred to manu- 
factures of no sort or kind except the manufacture of a President 
of the United States". ^ 

The South had now become bitterly opposed to a tariff. It 
seemed to enrich the Northerner, and to make the Southerner 

pay an enhanced price for all the goods which he 
foihe tariff ^"^ bought. There were at the South no factories, or 

nearly none; the people therefore did not seek pro- 
tection. Randolph said that the bill was intended "to rob and 
plunder one half of the Union for the benefit of the residue". 
South Carolina protested against the law, asserting that it was 
unconstitutional, and an abuse of power incompatible with free 
government. "The interests of South Carolina", she said, "are 
agricultural, and to cut off her foreign market and to confine her 
products to an inadequate home market is to reduce her to pov- 
erty". The defenders of the American system argued that the 
South derived a benefit from the fact that the tariff made a 
home market, and thus brought a market nearer to the cotton 
States, and therefore increased the price of cotton. But the 
planters did not admit the truth or force of this argument. 

Because of the President's advocacy of internal improve- 
ments, and because of the passage of the tariff bill, for which the 

National Republicans were largely responsible, a 

The election , j v i -i* r j • ^ 

of 1828. Strong and united opposition was formed against 

Adams before the end of his administration. The 
South was a unit against him, and the foes of internal improve- 
ments at the North were opposed to his policy. Moreover, 
Jackson was everywhere hailed as the people's friend, the man 
of the common people, while Adams was denounced as an aris- 
tocrat, who felt himself above the ordinary man. There was 
an outburst of popular enthusiasm for the "hero of New Or- 
leans". Now it must be noted that since the beginning of the 
Government the high offices of state had been in the hands of 
trained statesmen, and the presidency had been given to men 
of learning and experience. But in 1828 the people had grown 

^ Webster now favored the tarifif, claiming that New England factories 
had been built up on that basis. 



PARTY REORGANIZATION 289 

confident — overconfident — and ready to resent the insinuation 
that they needed educated or experienced statesmen to lead 
them or show them the way. The West, which was enthusi- 
astic for Jackson, was accustomed to give its allegiance to a 
downright forcible character like "Old Hickory", who had suc- 
ceeded in what he had undertaken, and had whipped the British 
and the Indians with equal- thoroughness and skill. And so 
Adams found strong support only in the Northeast, and there he 
was defended by the more conservative elements of society, who 
dreaded what they considered a democratic upheaval and . 
feared the election of a new and untried man to the presidency. 
Richard Rush, of Pennsylvania, was the candidate of the Na- 
tional RepubUcans for Vice-President. Calhoun held second 
place on the Jackson ticket. Jackson received one hundred and 
seventy-eight electoral votes, while Adams received only eighty- 
three. The popular vote of the National Republicans was large, 
however, and this showed that a strong conservative party was 
in existence. 

References 

Hart, Contemporaries, Volume III, pp. 561-567; Hart, Formation 
of the Union, Chapter XII; Burgess, The Middle Period, Chapters 
VI-VII; ScHURZ, Henry Clay, Volume I, Chapters IX-XI; Morse 
John Quincy Adams, pp. 148-214; Sumner, Andrew Jackson, Chapter 
£V-V. Longer accounts: McMaster, Volume V, pp. 55-267, 
433-536; ScHOULER, Volume III, pp. 262-270, 304-450; Turner, 
Rise of the New West, Chapters XIII, XV-XIX; McDonald, Jack- 
sonian Democracy, Chapter III. 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE JACKSONIAN ERA— THE TASKS OF A NEW SELF- 
CONSCIOUS DEMOCRACY 

Andrew Jackson is one of the most striking figures ia Amer- 
ican history, and few persons have played a more important 
part. He was born in South Carolina in 1767, of 
Jackson. Sturdy Scotch-Irish stock. When he was twenty- 

one he moved to Nashville. He studied law, and 
when Tennessee was admitted to the Union he became the first 
representative from the State in Congress. Soon afterwards he 

became senator, but held the posi- 
tion only a short time. "When I 
was President of the Senate", 
wrote Jefferson at a later time, 
"he was a senator, and he could 
never speak on account of the 
rashness of his feelings. I have 
seen him attempt it repeatedly, 
and as often choke with rage". 
Until the outbreak of the War of 
181 2 Jackson was most of the 
time in private life, not in pub- 
lic office. His surroundings 
were those of a rough frontier 
community, and we read of his 
taking part in duels and quarrels 
that were typical of the crude life of the young and energetic 
Southwest of those days. For it can not be denied that, with 
much that was sound and wholesome, there was a good deal that 
was rude and boisterous in the life of these new States beyond 

290 




a^^^-^^^r^^^/u^^ 



''y\-. 



I 



THE JACKSONIAN ERA 291 

the mountains. Jackson, in his downrightness and uprightness, 
in his promptness to resent an insult and to fight in obedience 
to the code of honor, was a true son of his surroundings. His 
early career taught him to love his friends and to hate his ene- 
mies. In the War of 1812 he fought with characteristic bravery 
and energy, showing many of the qualities of skillful generalship. 
In the Seminole War (i8i8-i8iq) he crushed the hostile Indians 
of the South and won new renown. He was a man of perfect 
honesty, and his motives were good; he had a warm heart, a 
quick temper, and the faculty of winning men and of making 
them love him, and, though his powers were in a measure un- 
disciplined, he had unusual mental vigor. The counselors and 
friends who surrounded him when he was President never hid 
him from view; he stood always clearly out before the people. 
His greatest weakness lay in the fact that designing men, his 
friends, could play upon his prejudices, and through his iron will 
accomplish their own objects. 

Jackson was elected in 1828 because he was looked upon as 
a candidate of the common people, while Adams was declared 

to be an aristocrat without sympathy for the 
his^eiec^km " masscs; it was said, too, that Jackson had been 

defrauded of his just rights in 1824. His election 
marks an era in our politics for many reasons: he was the first 
man chosen from the new West; he was the first man elected 
President who had not already acquired wide knowledge and 
experience in public affairs. The election of this self-made man, 
who was put forward as "a man of the people", shows that in 
the development of American life the people had reached a stage 
of self-confidence, feeling no need of trained experts in statesman- 
ship, and desiring only some one who would fulfill their behests. 
Perhaps they were overconfident, and there was certainly some- 
thing wrong in their antagonism to an experienced man like 
Adams on the ground that he was an aristocrat, for it is not 
undemocratic to place in public office the best of trained ser- 
vants; but, nevertheless, in the growth of a popular state like the 
United States it is only reasonable to expect that the people 
will come to see their power and use it; and only when they 



292 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

know their power can they feel the full responsibilities of 
citizenship. 

Up to the time of Jackson's accession to the presidency na- 
tional office-holders were removed only for inefficiency or dis- 
honesty. Adams removed only two men in his 
The spoils whole tcmi, and these not for political reasons. 

system. ' ^ . _ 

Although a strong party was arrayed against him, 
he refused to use public office to reward his friends. Now, 
Jackson was fully persuaded that the office-holders who had 
held their places under Adams were a corrupt lot, for by tem- 
perament he looked upon all who were not his friends as his 
enemies, and, moreover, he believed that the Adams adminis- 
tration was begotten by fraud, and that none who participated 
in it merited consideration. In some of the States the practice 
of using public office as a reward to political friends was already 
fully established. Influenced by men that had been used to this 
practice, and hearing the outcry against aristocratic office- 
holders, Jackson began the removal of men who were opposed 
to him in politics and filled their places with his followers. ' 
Thus was introduced into the national administration the "spoils 
system", 2 in accordance with which a person was given employ- 
ployment in the public service not because he was competent 
and trained for his duties, but because he was a faithful partisan. 
Jackson was honest and patriotic, but he was instrumental in 

' There were more men removed from office in the first few months of 
Jackson's administration than in the forty years preceding. 

2 These words seem to have been adopted from a speech made by W. L. 
Marcy in the Senate in 1831. "It may be, sir, that the politicians of New 
York are not so fastidious as some gentlemen are as to disclosing the prin- 
ciples on which they act. . . . They see nothing wrong in the rule that to 
the victor belong the spoils of the enemy". The spoils system was in part 
the natural product of Western democracy; men, brought up in the simple 
conditions of frontier life, naturally had no particular sympathy with the 
notion that there was need of education or experience for public office. 
The man whom the Westerners admired was the self-made man, who had 
succeeded in business or politics. In part, the spoils system was the prod- 
uct of intense, aggressive party strife; the offices were to be used as a reward 
for party work, a means of financing the party. See "Spoils System" in 
McLaughlin and Hart, Cyclopedia of American Government. 



THE JACKSONIAN ERA 293 

establishing this system, which has had a most harmful influence 
upon the character of our national politics.^ 

These were years of great development and progress, as well 
as times of heated political controversy. The spirit of the na- 
tion was fully awake; if we have thought that we 
Am^erica. could sce before this time the real America, the 

land of opportunity and of active energy, the land 
where man unrepressed by class systems and social prejudices 
could move onward and upward and where each could find the 
place his own energy and merit entitled him to — if we have 
thought in our study that we have seen the real America before, 
we must realize, when we come to Jackson's term, that the past 
had been only a preparation. All the ruthless energy, the deter- 
mination and the eager self confidence of a young and buoyant 
nation now showed themselves in politics, in literature, in busi- 
ness activity, in the daily life of the people. 

If the cruder signs of American life showed themselves in a 
scramble for oflice and in intense political controversy, that was 
not all; there were signs of awakened intellectual 
literature. interest. American literature was entering upon a 

new and brilliant career. Washington Irving had 
already achieved fame by his chaste and picturesque tales and 
sketches. Cooper was writing his novels of the sea and wilder- 
ness, and Poe was beginning to give out his weird stories and his 
pure and delicate verses. Hawthorne, born in Salem, in the 
very midst of Puritan tradition, was starting upon his career as 
the romancer of mystery and of Puritanic faith and superstition. 

^ It is an amusing and significant picture that we get of Jackson's inaug- 
uration, after the retirement of the sedate Adams. People rushed to the 
White House, crowded into the drawing rooms, upset the ices and the tubs 
of punch, stood with muddy boots on the fine furniture — and acted gener- 
ally as if they wanted the best and much of it. Surely that wasn't democ- 
racy; surely that was not the real expression of the sense and good manners 
of the men of the time. But that unmannerly crowd, which we refuse to 
consider representative of the great body of the people, did show in its 
very extravagance of rudeness the feeling that the people had come into 
their own, and, if the hungry ones wanted ice cream and cake, many 
another wanted office; they hungered for spoils. 
20 



294 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

His terse, simple, harmonious style proved that clear and sweet 
English prose could be written outside the British Isles. Emer- 
son was just beginning his essays on the homely practical phi- 
losophy of life, and Longfellow the finely finished poems that 
have placed him at the head of American poets. In oratory the 
Americans easily outstripped any English competitors of that 
generation. Webster's speeches were great and pure and sim- 
ple; Edward Everett uttered polished periods, turned and fitted 
with delicate care. Clay's fiery eloquence and Calhoun's cold 
reasoning always had something artistic about them. In the 
writing of history, too, American authors were showing talent. 
Bancroft began the publication of his great work, the final re- 
vision of which did not appear until forty years later. Prescott 
published in 1838 his Ferdinand and Isabella, the earliest of his 
charming volumes on Spain and the Spaniards of the New World. 
The American inventive spirit, which had showed itself in 
the invention of the cotton gin and the steamboat, was now 

manifest in many new labor-saving devices. One 
Open-minded- ^^g ^^q McCormick reaper, another the steam ham- 
progress. HieT. Frictiou matches were coming into use. In 

1837 Samuel F. B. Morse applied for a patent for 
sending messages by electricity; he did not succeed till some 
years later (1843) in getting money to make a practical and con- 




Reproduction of the First Telegraphic Message Sent by the Morse 
System, Now Preserved at Harvard College 

vincing test, but when that was done men realized that a new 
world had come; space was annihilated; with the growth of the 
telegraph all parts of the country could be bound together; all 
the people of the land could know what happened in the re- 
motest corner. In 1838 steamboats began to make trips across 



THE JACKSONIAN ERA 295 

the Atlantic. About the same time the process of smelting iron 
with anthracite coal and the hot-air blast was put into success- 
ful operation, the beginning of that great industry in the 
• United States. The great natural resources of the land were 
now being seized upon, the beginning of the effort which in 
later years was to bring immense fortunes and bring, in their 
train, industrial and social problems of great perplexity. This 
country offered a welcome asylum for men of energy or of in- 
ventive power, for no device was rejected because of its novelty. 
This same open-mindedness and this eagerness for progress 
showed themselves in the establishment of new wide-awake 
newspapers. More important still, the public-school system 
was widened and popularized; men felt that every boy and girl 
should have a chance to learn as well as to gain wealth. 

The Jacksonian era was a time when great characteristics of 

the nineteenth century seemed to burst forth into view. The 

intensity of national life seemed to show itself free 

Charactenstics fj-Qj^ restraint, and, although there was doubtless 

or tne nine- _ ' ' y 

teenth century, a fantastic extravagance, in these very exaggera- 
tions one can see with special clearness certain 
qualities that mark the line of growth along which the 
nation was moving. The development of the public- 
school system came doubtless from a feeling of public 
duty, from a realization of the essential unity of the 
people, and from a comprehension of the fact that a demo- 
cratic government was safe only in the hands of an edu- 
cated people. But while the century was marked by the 
growth of knowledge and by the popularizing of education, it 
was marked still more, perhaps, by the widening and deep- 
ening of human sympathy and feeling. The foundation of the 
great missionary societies, five of which were established be- 
tween 1830 and 1840, is an important evidence of this develop- 
ment of generous feeling for others. And as there grew up in 
men's minds a fuller appreciation of their relation to their fellows 
they showed this appreciation in great social movements, in 
works of generosity and charity. One might expect that men 
in democratic America would manifest more clearly than the 



296 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



people of Europe this sentiment of humanity; and such 
was probably the case; but everywhere in Europe, too, dur- 
ing the fourth and fifth decades of the century, there ap- 
peared these waves of social sentiment, all marking the great 

movement of society, and, 




if they were extreme or 
extravagant at the time, 
they are none the less 
proofs of the great motive 
force of the century. 
"We are a little wild 
here", wrote Emerson 
from Boston, "with num- 
berless projects of social 
reform; not a leading man 
but has a draft of a new 
community in his waist- 
coat pocket". The im- 
pulse for temperance re- 
form which swept over the 
country, and the Abolition 
movement, which we shall 
soon study, were mani- 
festations of this new social conscience. "A great wave of 
humanity, of benevolence, of desire for improvement, poured 
itself among all who had the faculty of large and disinterested 
thinking".^ 

The democratic spirit which we have seen in the political 
life of the country prevailed in society. The election of Jack- 
son simply heralded the fact that the people felt 
their power, and that they had reached their 
majority. Social distinctions had now vanished or were of 
little moment. A spirit of boastfulness was not lacking; for 
men prided themselves on the fact that the United States, 

^ These words are used of the situation in England in J. Morley, The 
Life of Richard Cobden, p. 6i. See also Hinsdale, Horace Mann, p. 73. 



Distribution of Population in 1830 



Democracy. 



THE JACKSONIAN ERA 297 

in advance of the world, was giving an example of popular gov- 
ernment, and they declared their country to be the freest and 
best on earth. Despite self-assertion and vainglory, there was 
much that was sound and good in this democratic spirit; the 
people rudely made real the truth that "worth makes the man, 
and want of it the fellow" — the true motto of true democracy. 
Men were hard at work, for work was no disgrace in this new 
country; they eagerly sought after money, not for its own sake, 
but for what it would bring. Work was the common lot of all 
men; and where that is the case democratic equality has its 
surest foundation . ^ 

One is not mistaken in attributing this development of re- 
ligious, moral, and mental freedom and strength, in part at least, 
to democratic institutions, to the fact that in 

Democracy and a • i • -i •i-^- i 

human progress. America cach man was given responsibilities, and 
taught by the force of circumstances, by his duties, 
by the very political theory of the commonwealth, to think for 
himself and to strive for personal uplift. Out of this feeling of 
personal responsibility and power have come the successful 
establishment and maintenance of the Church and other relig- 
ious institutions upon a perfectly free and voluntary system, 
without the authority or interference of the Government; the 
building up of the great free-school system, of which we have 
spoken; and the endowment of higher institutions of learning, 
libraries, and museums by the State as well as by private gen- 
erosity. All of these came from the free and unrestrained de- 
sire of an intelligent public. We may well stop to consider 
these facts while we are discussing these profoundly interesting 
times, when Andrew Jackson, "the man of the people", was 
President, and when in countless ways energetic men, realizing 
in some measure the heritage of a great country and a 
free government, were pushing boldly and enthusiastically 
forward in the pursuit of wealth and moral and intellectual 
ideals. 



1 The society in America is discussed in Schouler, History, vol. ii, chap, 
viii (1809), and vol. iv, chap, xiii (1831). 



298 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

But all was not smooth sailing in these days of national feel- 
ing and of eager life. The settling of the West had in a measure 
unsettled the East; the old States of the South had been stand- 
ing still, at least not growing relatively in population and in 
wealth. The opening up of the new cotton fields of the interior, 
while it greatly increased the output of cotton, reduced the price, 
and the owners of the old plantations, which were in part worn 
out, were ill at ease and dissatisfied. South Carolina especially 
was tried and troubled as she saw the North growing in wealth 
and strength. She complained bitterly of the tariff, to which 
she attributed her woes, and insisted that it gave Northern manu- 
facturers the opportunity to reap benefits at her expense.^ " We 
are mere consumers", declared Calhoun, "the serfs of the system 
out of whose labor is raised, not only the money paid into the 
Treasury, but funds out of which are drawn the rich rewards of 
the manufacturer and his associate in interest". 

As we have already seen, the tariff act of 1828 had hardly 
been passed when some of the Southern States began to show 
their strong dislike of the protective system. South Carolina 
was foremost in opposition, and John C. Calhoun was her 
leader and guide. Calhoun had drifted wide from the position 

^ Probably the tariff did bear heavily on the South and especially on 
such states as South Carolina, whose planters wanted to ship their cotton 
to Europe and bring back supplies free of all necessary duty. But back of 
all were the expensiveness of slavery and the fact that South Carolina could 
not adapt herself to new conditions. Protection did not raise the price 
of cotton or fertilize the old fields. 

Cotton Crop in Million Pounds 
Years 1791 1801 1811 1821 1826 1834 
The Old South- 
Virginia to Georgia 2 39 75 117 180 160 

The New South — 
Tennessee to Louisiana 

and Arkansas o i 5 60 150 S 297.5 

Price of Cotton. 
1816 1820 1824 1827 

nearly 30 cents 17 cents 14-75 cents 9 cents. 

See Turner, Rise of the New West, pp. 47, 325. 



THE JACKSONIAN ERA 



299 




he held after the War of 1812, when he advocated a broad 
national policy. He now stood forth as the champion of State 

sovereignty, and 
Soun. devoted himself to 

a defence of sec- 
tional interests. His native 
state was restless and discon- 
tented, and extremists were 
beginning to threaten disunion. 
He continually opposed dis- 
union; but outlining the princi- 
ples of State sovereignty, which 
might in the end justify seces- 
sion, he put forth his principles 
of nullification, by which a 
State might, while still a mem- 
ber of the Union, temporarily 
prevent the enforcement of ob- 
jectionable laws. A clear and 
incisive reasoner and a fine public speaker, he had great influence 
upon his people and, as years went by, towered up as the leading 
figure in the whole Southland. 

Calhoun began in 1828 to develop his theories of the nature 
of the Union. He announced that each State was wholly sov- 
ereign, and the Constitution only an agreement or 
compact between sovereign States; that each 
State of the Union was not subject to the Consti- 
tution as a superior law, but retained the right to govern 
itself wholly if it so preferred. From State sovereignty came 
the right of secession; each State had the right to interpret 
the Constitution for itself, and, if it chose, to withdraw from the 
Union on the ground that the agreement or treaty (the Con- 
stitution) had been broken, or on the ground that its interests 
were no longer furthered. In accordance with this 
theory, the relations between the various States 
were just the same as they would be between France, England, 
and Spain if they should enter into a treaty establishing a cen- 



State 
sovereignty 



Secession 



300 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



and 
nullification. 



tral agent to which certain powers of government should be 
given for certain purposes; each of the three States would retain 
its full sovereign character, and would have the 
right to withdraw from association with the others 
when it chose. Nullification meant the right of 
a State to declare null and void any act of the Federal Govern- 
ment which it considered a breach of the compact (the Consti- 
tution) ; if the other States insisted on upholding the act, the 
aggrieved State would have the right to withdraw from the 
Union. 1 

In 1830 Senator Hayne, of South Carolina, gave utterance, 
in the Senate, to the theories of 
State sovereignty. 
He was a man of 
strong parts, and his 
presentation of Calhoun's theories 
was forcible. Daniel Webster 
answered him in a great speech, 
which stands to-day unsurpassed 
in the annals of American ora- 
tory, Webster was then at the 
height of his intellectual vigor. 
His eloquence was pure and great. 
No orator who has ever spoken 
the English tongue has excelled 
him in the beauty, force, and ap- 
propriateness of language. He 



The great 
debate. 




5^:%^ ^^Z^^ 



1 Under this theory of Calhoun, a State would nullify while it remained 
in the Union, but secession would follow in case the obnoxious laws were 
enforced against its will. "Should the other members", wrote Calhoun, 
" undertake to grant the power nullified, and should the nature . . . be such 
as to defeat the object of the . . . Union, at least so far as the member nullify- 
ing is concerned, it would then become an abuse of power on the part of 
the principals [the other States], and thus present a case where secession 
would apply". Between 1828 and 1832 Calhoun fully outlined the whole 
logical basis of secession. Nothing needed to be added in 1861. Read 
Johnston, Am. Orations, vol. iii, p. 321; MacDonald, Jacksonian Democ- 
racy, pp. 84-87, 105, 149, etc. 



THE JACKSONIAN ERA 301 

maintained, in reply to Hayne, that the Constitution was a law, 
and not a mere agreement; that it had the force of law, and was 
binding on each and every State; and that each State could not 
at will interpret the Constitution to suit its interests. He point- 
ed out that nullification must be only Interstate anarchy. The 
speech made a deep impression on the people of the country, for it 
harmonized well with the predominating sentiment at the North. 
This was long known as ''the great debate" in the Senate. 

But Calhoun's doctrines were to be more forcibly depicted 
than by mere oratory. In 1832 a new tariff act was passed. 
This was more moderate than the one of four 
South caroiiM. Y^^^^ before, but South Carolina prepared to pro- 
test directly against it. Under the direction of 
Calhoun the steps for nullification were taken. A convention 
of the people declared the tariff law null and void, forbade its 
execution within the State, and threatened secession from the 
Union if there should be an effort to enforce it. This was No- 
vember, 1832. The Ordinance of Nullification was to go into 
force February i, 1833. 

On December nth Jackson issued his famous proclamation 
addressed to the people of South Carolina. It was full of fire 
and vigor. It was at once strong, reasonable, and 
prociamaUon. gentle. "The laws of the United States must be 
executed", he said. "Those who told you that 
you might peaceably prevent their execution deceived you. . . 
Their object is disimion, and disunion by armed force is treason". 
The people of the United States owe Jackson a deep debt of 
gratitude. His name — a name of powxr for many years to 
come — was joined with the idea of union and the supremacy of 
the Constitution. But he did more than issue a proclamation: 
he made preparation to enforce the law. 

Calhoun resigned the vice-presidency, and was elected Sena- 
tor from his State. In the winter a tariff bill, called the Com- 
promise Tariff of 1833, was passed. This provided 
for a gradual lowering of the duties. Clay was 
instrumental in bringing about the compromise. At the same 
time an act, known as "the force bill", was passed giving the 



302 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

President means of enforcing the law. Thus were presented to 
South Carolina "the rod and the olive branch bound up to- 
gether". South Carolina repealed the nulUfication ordinance, 
thus accepting the olive branch, while she ignored the threaten- 
ing rod. Danger of war or secession was, for the time being, 
gone; but South Carolina, under the guidance of Calhoun, had 
put forth an ominous doctrine which would form the basis for 
State or sectional opposition when new necessity or fresh 
enmities arose. 

Through the summer of 1832 a contest of another sort had 
been in progress, a struggle between the friends and the oppo- 
nents of the Bank of the United States. From 
the beginning of Jackson's administration the bank 
had been more or less under fire. Jackson himself had a natural 
objection to it, although he does not seem to have been anxious 
to attack it until it was hinted to him that the institution was 
using its power for political purposes against the Administra- 
tion. This was doubtless not true at first. But Jackson in 
various messages to Congress hinted at the dangers of such a 
moneyed organization and the unconstitutionality of the char- 
ter. The National Republicans, led by Clay, believed that the 
bank was useful and desirable, and thought that the people at 
large felt the same way about it. In 1832, though the charter 
did not expire till four years later, a bill was passed by Congress 
granting a new charter. Jackson vetoed the bill on the ground 
of unconstitutionality, and for other reasons. ^ 

"Bank or no bank" was one of the chief issues of the presi- 
dential campaign of that year. Jackson had appealed to a wide 
public sentiment when he objected to what he considered a great 
national monopoly, and he was, of course, enthusiastically 

1 The bank, it will be remembered, obtained a charter in 1816, good for 
twenty years. It is still a subject of dispute as to whether such a central 
bank with its branches throughout the Union was a wise plan. 

Jackson declared in his message that the bank was a machine for mak- 
ing the rich richer and the poor poorer, a great grinding monopoly. What 
had the Western farmer or the poor of the Eastern cities to gain from a 
gigantic bank? Why grant it special privileges? 



THE JACKSONIAN ERA 303 

supported by those who admired his strong and vigorous 
methods. The anti-Jackson forces put forward as their can- 
didate Henry Clay — the father of the "American 
Sw^eiecUon^ system", the strong defender of the bank, the 
natural reliance of the more conservative business 
interests of the country. Though an eloquent speaker and a man 
of unusual personal charm, who won friends wherever he ap- 
peared, he could make no headway against the current of popular 
approval for " old Hickory " and was badly beaten in the election. 
Before the end of another presidential term his fol- 
wwg^party ^ lowers took the name of Whigs. The name itself, 
recalling the popular one by which the patriots of 
the Revolution were known, implied that Jackson's methods 
"were high-handed and tyrannical" .^ 

Jackson now felt himself sustained in his attitude toward 
the bank. In the summer of 1833 he proceeded to make another 
attack upon it. The charter declared that the 
deposUs 1833 public money was to be deposited in the bank "un- 
less the Secretary of the Treasury shall at any 
time otherwise order and direct, in which case he shall imme- 
diately lay before Congress . . . the reason of such order or 
direction". Jackson determined to remove the deposits. In 
order to accomplish this he needed to make some changes in his 
Cabinet. He first appointed William J. Duane Secretary of 
the Treasury, but the new secretary refused to take the neces- 
•sary action; whereupon Jackson dismissed him, and appointed 



^Jackson's administration is sometimes called the "reign of Andrew 
Jackson", because Jackson was charged with disregard for law and con- 
stitutional restrictions. Each party was eager to accuse the other of 
having no regard for the Constitution. When, in 1833, Harvard gave 
Jackson the degree of doctor of laws (LL.D.), the wits of the time asserted 
that it was well given, for Jackson was all the time doctoring up the 
laws. The Whigs continued to defend the bank; they favored the 
tariff; they were ready to interpret the Constitution broadly to get what 
they wanted; they were made up, generally speaking, of the well-to-do and 
the more conservative classes; men who had looked upon Jackson as a 
mere unshorn, blustering Indian fighter from the wilds of the backwoods, 
were likely to find place in the Whig party. 



304 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



Roger B. Taney, who did as desired, and issued an order that 
the public money should no longer be placed in the bank. This 
was called a removal of the deposits, though in reality the Gov- 
ernment simply ceased to deposit its money in the bank, and 




New Edition of Macbeth, 1837. Bank-Oh's Ghost 
A Contemporary Caricature of Jackson's Bank Policy- 
did not at once draw out all the money it had there. The Gov- 
ernment funds were thereafter placed in banks acting under 
State charters; "pet banks" they were called. The hope of 
having part of the public money for use encouraged bankmaking, 
and the number of State banks rapidly increased. 

Jackson was sharply attacked by the Whigs for his assault 

upon the bank, and a resolution of censure was spread upon the 

records of the Senate. Thomas H. Benton, of 

Missouri, gave notice that he would each session, 

until he succeeded in his efforts, introduce a 

resolution to erase the censure from the record. 

After three years his famous "expunging resolution" was 

adopted. 

These years were full of business zest and enterprise. The 
whole coimtry was in a state of great prosperity, but men were 



The censure and 
the expunging 
resolution. 



THE JACKSONIAN ERA 305 

rapidly losing their heads in their search of immediate riches. 
One source of speculation was the Western lands. State banks 

grew rapidly in number and issued their promises 
LX"reTenue. ^o pay by the handful. These notes were taken 

by the Government in exchange for wild lands, 
and because of this and other sources of income the Treasury 
was well filled. The States were now eagerly engaged in build- 
ing railroads, and canals, and so it was proposed that the Na- 
tional Government distribute its surplus revenue among the 
States. A bill for that purpose was passed in 1836. The money 
was to be given out in four quarterly installments, beginning 
January i, 1837. Three payments were made, amounting in 
all to about $28,000,000. Before the fourth installment was 
due the Government had no more money to give away. This 
distribution was on the face of the law only a loan ; really it was 
looked upon as a gift. The money so distributed has not been 
repaid. It did the States little good, and probably in most in- 
stances did harm, encouraging wild plans of internal improve- 
ment, for many of which there was no real demand. 

Before the end of Jackson's term he caused to be issued the 
"specie circular", an order directing that only gold and silver 

and so-called land scrip should be received in pay- 
circuian*^'^ ment for lands. This brought the speculators and 

wild enthusiasts face to face with facts, and soon 
made clear to them that promises to pay money were not money, 
and that making plans of cities on the Western prairies did not 
materially add to the wealth of the nation. 

It is not strange that the people's heads were turned by the 
sight of the nation's growth; for the country was filling up with 

astonishing rapidity. The seacoast towns no longer 

looked like country villages, but had put on the 
airs of populous cities. Emigrants from Europe came in in- 
creasing numbers, many of them staying in the ports where they 
landed, others moving to the new West. The Western States 
and Territories grew at a marvelous rate, Arkansas and Mich- 
igan were admitted as States (1836 and 1837). Ohio increased 
her population in the decade (1830-40) from about 900,000 to 



306 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

1,500,000, or over 62 per cent. The population of Illinois in- 
creased 202 per cent.; of Michigan, 570 per cent.; of Mississippi, 
175 per cent.; other States of the Mississippi Valley advanced 
almost as rapidly, and even the Territories were filling with 
sturdy settlers. Chicago in 1830 was but a rude frontier post, a 
mere cluster of houses; before 1840 it was a prosperous town, 
with lines of steamers connecting it with the East, and was 
already the center of the newest West. 

There seem to have been less than thirty miles of railroad 
in the country in 1830; in 1840 there were not far from three 

thousand. It is no wonder that men were induced 
imY^^ments ^° build air castles, or that they expected to see 

the Western wilderness conquered in a day. Some 
of the States planned great railroad and canal systems, and, 
wild with schemes of internal improvement, plunged rashly into 
debt. Michigan, for example, entered upon the task of building 
three railroads across the State, voted sums for the survey of 
canals, and authorized the Governor to borrow five million dol- 
lars to defray the expenses of such undertakings. Individuals 
as well as States discounted the future, expecting almost imme- 
diate wealth as a result of investments. 

As we have already seen, the purchase of wild lands from the 
Government was an especially attractive form of speculation. 

Men seem actually to have thought that lands 
pubUcknds'" purchased at $1.25 an acre would in a few days or 

months be worth much more on the market, al- 
though the Government had a great deal more land to sell at 
the old figure. Indeed, at times these speculations were profit- 
able, for the nation was buoyed up with hope and with visions 
of unbounded prosperity. Sales of Government lands rose from 
about two and a half million dollars in 1832 to over twenty-four 
million dollars- in 1836. There was much healthy vigor, for the 
country was growing, and its growth was due to zealous work. 
But thrift had been displaced by greed for immediate riches, 
and the result was sure to be disappointment, if not disaster. 
Few saw, when Jackson left office in 1837, that the storm was 
ready to break. 



THE JACKSONIAN ERA 307 

In 1836 Martin Van Buren, one of Jackson's proteges and 
favorites, was chosen President, defeating William Henry Har- 
rison, whom the Whigs had nominated. 1 Van Buren prided 
himself on being the successor of the "man of the people" and 
proclaimed his intention of carrying forward the policy of Jack- 
son. He probably would have dearly liked to be a popular idol 
himself; but few men were so ill-fitted for that role. Carrying 
out Jackson's policies without being Jackson was no easy job, 
and Van Buren was soon face to face with trouble that would 
have tried even the stern head and stout heart of the old chief- 
tain.- The nation was elated, joyous and confident, but a pe- 
riod of distress and want was at hand. 

Some slight indications had already been given that the 
country was on the eve of business disaster. It was awakening 
with a shock from the prolonged fit of intoxication 
183^7!'^'"'^° over American success and growth. In the win- 
ter before the inauguration a large gathering was 
held in New York in response to a call headed "Bread, meat, 
rent, fuel! Their prices must come down"! There were 
troubles in Europe, and Englishmen who had invested money 
in this country now began to demand payment on their stocks, 
bonds, and notes. With what were Americans to pay? With 
the paper of the hundreds of banks — banks with little or no gold 
and silver in their vaults, and without capital that could be 



^ The nomination of Harrison and Granger was not made by a formal 
national convention. 

-Van Buren was president one term, 1837-1841. He had been some- 
what prominent in political life for twenty years before his accession to the 
presidency. He had been senator from New York, and Vice-President of 
the United States. He was a politician of great adroitness, and so clever in 
political management that he had won the title of the "Little Magician". 
He was a polished, polite, good-natured man, never giving way to excite- 
ment or to appearance of anger. His cool suavity was attributed by his 
enemies to a designing disposition, his politeness to a capacity for deceit. 
His life does not show, however, that he was devoid of either ability or 
principle. He performed his presidential duties well. His term was full of 
trouble and anxiety, but he showed good judgment and discretion in meet- 
ing the trying problems that confronted him. 



308 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

turned into good money? Of course, the Englishmen wanted 
good money. Jackson's specie circular, too, did much to topple 
over the castles in the air which the people had been building. 
It now became clear enough that the paper of worthless banks 
was not money; and it soon appeared that nearly everything had 
acquired an unreal price. Soon all was confusion; workmen 
were thrown out of employment, and there was much suffering 
among the poor; men, that had thought themselves rich, found 
that their wealth was in Western lands for which there was no 
market, or in promises to pay on which they could not realize, 
or in shares of some gigantic project which was now no more. 
The great fabric, reared on credit and hope, fell, and the whole 
country was in consternation. The lesson was pretty sharply 
taught, that not the planning of new cities where none were 
needed, or the digging of canals where the country was not 
ready for them, or the speculation in lands or stocks, created 
real wealth or stored up help for the day of distress. 

Unfortunately, all the lessons of this panic were not gath- 
ered by the people. The Government was charged with a large 

part of the trouble. Doubtless Jackson's some- 
Help from the what rudc handling of financial affairs had aggra- 
de°manded!^ vatcd matters, but the root of the evil was reckless 

extravagance. There was a wide demand now for 
the Government to lift the people out of their difficulties, but 
the Government was itself in perplexing straits. Beginning in 
January to distribute money among the States, before the end 
of the year it was not only unable to pay the last of the four 
quarterly installments, but was hardly able to meet its own 
running expenses. Van Buren bravely refused to recommend 
any extraordinary plans for bringing about good times, because 
he did not believe it was the duty of government — especially 
the United States Government — to lift people out of pits which 
they had dug with their own hands. He was in consequence 
denounced as hardhearted and cruel by Whig orators and by 
many of the people. 

He recommended (special session, September, 1837) that 
thereafter the Government of the United States should do its 



THE JACKSONIAN ERA 309 

own financial business; that it should not keep its funds in State 
banks, nor, on the other hand, establish another national bank, 
but that the money should be collected and kept 
Inui^asSrT.**' ^y the Government itself. This meant simply 
that whatever money was collected should be put 
by the Government in its own " strong box". The plan — called 
the "Divorce Bill", because it divorced the Government from 
the banks — was bitterly attacked, and was not indeed adopted 
until 1840. The next year this bill was repealed; but in 1846 
a like measure was adopted. Since that day a similar means 
of keeping the public money has been followed.^ 

There had been strong party disputes and much ill-feeling 
during Jackson's administration and during Van Buren's like- 
wise; but by 1840 it was apparent that much that 
democratk.^ Jackson stood for was accepted as a lasting part 
of American political life. The Whigs, loudly cry- 
ing out against Jacksonian tyranny and his high-minded meth- 
ods, were now themselves Jacksonian in part. They made no 
pretence — and they could not if they hoped for success — of 
being superior to other folks or of distrusting the sense or ability 
of the masses of the people. Though there were many strong 
Whigs among the planters of the Southern States, the party was 
always somewhat stronger in the East than in the West or South. 
It was largely made up of the business people and the manufac- 
turers, who wanted an able, effective government, a tariff and 
good banks; on the whole, they included much the same element 
as that which had formed the old Federalist party ; but wherever 
they were or whatever they stood for, they appealed for popular 
support, and did not try to hold aloof or pretend to possess more 
sense and capacity than the ordinary citizen. 

The election of 1840 brought forth no issues that now de- 
mand our serious attention. The Democrats nominated Van 
Buren again, and tried to win success by pointing to his record; 
they opposed the reestablishment of the national bank, and 



^ Portions of the public money are kept in national banks which were 
provided for during the Civil War. 
21 



310 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

favored the independent treasury. The Whigs put forward 
William Henry Harrison, of Ohio, who had received some sup- 
port in 1836, and they nominated for the vice-presi- 

Dem^^S tf ^^^^^y J°^^ ^y^^^' °^ Virginia. These nominations 
1840. illustrate, in a measure, the character of the Whig 

party of the time ; it was decidedly a party of opposi- 
tion, and had, therefore, no very precise set of principles and no 
very distinct character. Harrison was chosen as leader, not be- 
cause he stood clearly for some particular principle or policy, but 
rather because he did not. Into the Whig ranks had come the mal- 
contents and those dissatisfied with the conduct of the party in 
power. Tyler, for example, was a states-rights man, who ob- 
jected to Jacksor 's personal rule and what were called his high- 
handed ruthless methods; but he was almost as much out of 
place in the Whig party, by the side of Webster anc. Clay, as in 
the party of Jackson and Van Buren. Tyler thought that he and 
Clay were boon companions and co-workers, though, in reality, 
they had little in common save equal dislike for Andrew Jackson. 
It is said that Tyler wept when Clay was not chosen in the Con- 
vention to be the standard bearer of the party; and "Tyler's 
tears" were popularly said to be the reason for his own nomina- 
tion for the vice-presidency. 

The campaign showed that the Whigs had learned the lesson 
of popular success. They took a shaft from their opponent's 

quiver, and they handled their weapon with clever- 
The log cabin ^^^^^ rj.^ ^^^ nominated a Westerner, and they 

campaign. -^ ^ , ' -' 

made the most of it; their candidate was a man 
who had lived on the frontier, had fought the Indians and the 
British — a simple, unaffected old soldier, who was pictured as 
living in a log-cabin and drinking hard cider as if he liked it. 
Up and down the land, Whig orators proclaimed the uprightness 
of "Old Tip" and his rugged character. "Every breeze", ex- 
claimed Webster, "says change". "The hour for discussion 
has passed", Clay announced. Men gathered in thousands to 
indulge in jollification and to shout allegiance to the old man of 
the West, who was not, like "Matty" Van Buren, a scheming 
politician — not at all like "Matty of Kinderhook", who had 



THE JACKSONIAN ERA 311 

bought gold spoons for the White House table. Campaign 
crowds were counted by the thousand or measured by the acre; 
for the first time the people of the whole country, full of interest 
and enjoying the game and war of politics, devoted themselves 
to the contest. Much of their fun-making and their jollity, as 
we look back upon it, seems trivial or undignified, but it had its 
meaning. The cheap, doggerel verse and the campaign songs 
meant nothing in themselves; but it was important that far and 
. wide the whole people felt that the Government was their gov- 
ernment and that no one could say them nay.^ 

Enthusiasm for Harrison, strongly aided by the hard times, 

for which the Democrats had to bear the blame, easily carried 

the day for the Whigs. They were wild with elation 

de^ed**^ ^^^ ovcrcome with joy. Nineteen States out of 

the total number of twenty-six cast their electoral 

votes for Harrison and Tyler.^ 

The new President was inaugurated with unwonted display. 
Whigs from every quarter of the Union — each probably claim- 
ing to be " the original Harrison man " — hastened to Washington 
to sip and taste the honey and fruit of victory. The fatigues 
of the campaign had already tested Harrison's strength, for he 

1 Interesting accounts of this campaign of sound and excitement will 
be found in Schouler, History, vol. iv, pp. 328-340, especially pp. 335-34°; 
Shepard, Van Buren, pp. 327-338; Schurz, Henry Clay, vol. ii, pp. 170- 
197; Van Hoist, Constitutional History, vol. ii, pp. 390-405. One of the 
pieces of doggerel verse used in the campaign was only too descriptive — 

"National Republicans in Tippecanoe, 
And Democratic Republicans in Tyler, too". 
This was a strange combination of men and principles. Throughout 
the campaign live coons and barrels of cider were always in evidence; log 
cabins were reared as emblems in town and city, or were drawn about on 
carts in long processions to mass meetings. 

2 Harrison was an honest, straightforward, simple man, of moderate 
ability. He was not a great statesman, nor did he show himself to be a 
leader of men, but throughout hfe he quietly and conscientiously performed 
the duties that devolved upon him. He won some honor in the War of 
181 2, when the nation craved heroes. He was Governor of Indiana Terri- 
tory for twelve years, a Representative in Congress, and also a Senator. 
For some years before his election he had been living in a quiet, unassum- 
ing way at his home in Ohio. 



312 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

was not robust in body, and now his new duties and the clamors 
of the oflSce-seekers broke him down.^ Just one month 
after his inauguration he died. For the first 
President* ^ t™^ ^^ ^^^ history death entered the White 
House. 
Tyler at once assumed the duties and the title of President. 
The Whigs who had elected him were somewhat anxious, but 
for a time tried to preserve a bold front, and at 
Prlsidtnt?"^' first things went smoothly. Tyler retained Har- 
rison's Cabinet, and issued an address to the peo- 
ple, in which he said nothing that was particularly new or that 
gave notice of Democratic leanings. Difficulties soon arose, 
however. Clay felt himself the leader of the party, and, by 
nature imperious and qualified for leadership, he could not 
brook the pretensions of the man whose position had been se- 
cured by sheer accident. Tyler, in turn, was headstrong and 
ambitious, and seems to have begun early to nurse hopes of a 
reelection. However that may be, his whole history showed 
that, unless he renounced his past, he could not agree with the 
Whigs on afl&rmative measures, however well he had been 
getting along with them when both were in opposition. 

It is not necessary to recount here the different steps by 

which Tyler became estranged from the party that elected him. 

Twice was a bank bill passed by Congress and 

Tyler and the vetoed by the President. A tariff law was passed 

Whigs 

estranged. (1842) and signed by the President, but this was 

accomplished only after a long struggle, in the 
course of which two different tariff measures were vetoed. 
Before the middle of his term Tyler was without strong sup- 
port in either party, but was upheld by a few men who were 
sneered at as "the corporal's guard".^ 

1 "We have nothing here in politics", wrote Horace Greeley, who had 
during the campaign edited the Log Cabin newspaper, "but large and 
numerous swarms of office-hunting locusts, sweeping on to Washington 
daily". See Schurz, Henry Clay, vol. ii, p. 192. 

^ "As an instance of the President's unpopularity, an influenza which 
about this time broke out acquired the name of the 'Tyler grippe'". 
(Schouler, iv, p. 433.) 



THE JACKSONIAN ERA 313 

There were some delicate questions in foreign affairs which 
Tyler's administration settled. For some years past American 

relations with England had been unsatisfactory 
afidr/"*"* and threatening, In Van Buren's administration 

an incident occurred commonly called "the Caro- 

Hne affair". There was at that time an insurrection in Canada, 

and some of the people of the United States sympathized with 

the rebels. A vessel, the Caroline, seems to have been used to 

transport men and supplies from New York across the Niagara 

River. An expedition from Canada crossed to the American 

side, seized the vessel, set her on fire and let her drift over the 

falls. An American citizen was killed in the affair. Some years 

after this a Canadian named McLeod was arrested in New York 

and charged with the murder of the American. The English 

Government demanded the release of this man, 

1841. ' 

on the ground that the whole matter was a public 

affair, for which England herself, and not a private citizen, was 
responsible. The New York authorities refused to surrender 
their prisoner to the National Government, and the situation 
was serious and critical. Fortunately he was acquitted upon 
trial, and so England had on this score no further ground of 
complaint. 

Some time before these occurrences serious disputes had 
arisen concerning the northeastern boundary. The terms of 
the treaty that was signed at the close of the 
era boundary." Revolution were not explicit. Maine and Canada 
both laid claim to a large territory, each insisting 
that under the treaty she was the rightful owner, and there was 
now danger of war. Maine ordered troops into the disputed 
territory and held it, and this armed possession, known as the 
"Aroostook war", is said to have cost the State a million dollars 
(1839). War was prevented, however, and negotiations for set- 
tlement were undertaken. In 1842 Lord Ashburton came to 
America authorized to treat, and he and Webster agreed on a 
treaty which compromised this dispute, and set at rest all con- 
troversies concerning the northern boundary of the United 
States even as far west as the Lake of the Woods. It also pro- 



314 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

vided for the extradition of certain classes of criminals, and for 

keeping armed cruisers of both nations employed in checking 

the slave trade. 

Before the end of Tyler's term the Texas question, in- 
volving the whole subject of slavery and slavery 

questkm ^' ^ expansion had arisen, and we must now go back 
to an early time and see the rise of the anti-slavery 

sentiment in the Union. 



References 

Hart, Contemporaries, Volume III, pp. 531-535, 540-544; Wood- 
row Wilson, Division and Reunion, pp. 1-117; Burgess, Middle 1 
Period, Chapters VIII-X, XII; Sumner, Andrew Jackson, Chapters 
VII-XII; Shepard, Martin Van Biiren, Chapters VI-X; Schurz, 
Clay, Volume I, Chapters XII, XIII, Volume II, Chapters XIV-XX, 
XXII-XXIII; Lodge, Webster, pp. 166-256; Theodore Roosevelt, 
Thomas Hart Benton, Chapters IV- VII, IX-XII; Garrison, Westward 
Extension, Chapters III-V. Longer accounts: Schouler, Volume 
III, pp. 451-529, Volume IV, pp. 1-201, 226-245, 257-296, 313-421; 
McMastek, Volume VI, pp. 1-270, 299-466, 550-647, Volume VII, 
pp. 1-227; MacDonajld, Jacksonian Democracy. 



CHAPTER XVII 
SLAVERY AND THE TEXAS QUESTION 

It is an interesting and illustrative fact that in the campaign 
of sound and nonsense, when every breeze was whispering 
change, there was little discussion of a great ques- 
The Liberty tion — the greatest, the most difficult, the most 
par'y- somber that had as yet come before the American 

people. A little band of men, opponents of slavery, 
had formed a party — the Liberty party; but it attracted little 
attention and only some 7000 votes were cast for its candidates 
in the election of 1840. Men talked and shouted as if the main 
thing was to get rid of Van Buren and elect "Old Tip", or as if 
bank or no bank was the all-absorbing problem of the time. 
How little in the midst of serious troubles and of new problems 
do we see their presence or recognize their difficulty ! 

And yet the slavery question had for about ten years been 
the cause of some excitement and bitter dispute. From the 
time of the Missouri Compromise till about 1830 there was little 
discussion of the subject; but in the next decade there was a 
good deal of talk and the times were coming when men would 
speak of little else. 

In 1829 William Lloyd Garrison and Benjamin Lundy began 

to print, at Baltimore, The Genius of Universal Emancipation. 

Two years later Garrison founded The Liberator, 

'^^\. . . at Boston, and in 18^2 the New England Anti- 

abohtionists. ' . "^ ° 

slavery Society was founded. The society advo- 
cated the abolition of slavery at once, on the ground that it was 
sinful and demoralizing. Men were called to "immediate re- 
pentance". Somewhat later the American Antislavery Society 
was organized. It grew but slowly at first, and met with the 
angry opposition of many who saw that the South would not 

315 



316 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



They suffer 
violence. 



consent to immediate action, and that the preaching of such doc- 
trine would necessarily bring sectional ill feeling and disturbance. 

During the next few years many 
abolitionists 1 were attacked by 

Northern mobs, in 

large part made up 

doubtless of the more 
ignorant and excitable people, but 
some of them containing men who 
ought to have known that, in a free 
country, persecution and violence 
are the poorest of arguments and 
likely to have quite an opposite 
effect from that intended. In 1833 
Prudence Crandall opened her 
school in Canterbury, Conn., to 
negro girls. She was cast into jail, 
and her school building destroyed. 
In 1837 Elijah P. Lovejoy was shot 
in Alton, 111. His offence was the publication of an anti-slavery 
newspaper. Garrison was mobbed, and led with a rope through 
the streets of Boston. 

Garrison's attacks were sharp, ceaseless, unrelenting. The 
Liberator poured out denunciation on the whole system of 

slavery, using the most scathing terms of reproach, 
principles. "^ ^^ aware", said Garrison, "that many object 

to the severity of my language; but is there not 
cause for severity? I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncom- 
promising as justice. On this subject, I do not wish to think, or 
speak, or write with moderation". He made no excuse for the 
slave-holder on the ground that the system had long existed, 
that it was an inheritance from the past. He had no patience 




^ It should be noticed that abolitionism was essentially different from 
other earlier movements against slavery, inasmuch as its main tenet was 
the sinfulness of slavery, which tainted the slaveholder and the whole 
nation. It would have nothing to do with gradual emancipation; its pur- 
pose was to arouse the conscience of the nation to immediate repentance. 



I 



SLAVERY AND THE TEXAS QUESTION 317 

with those advocating gradual abolition; "Gradualism in theory", 
he asserted, "is perpetuity in practice ". We may not all agree 
that Garrison was wise and right in the manner of his opposition; 
but there are few more intensely interesting or more profoundly 
impressive pictures than that of the young man, almost alone, 
friendless and poor, taking up this great crusade, printing his 
paper in a garret in Boston, and filling its pages with words of 
fire. He began a crusade against one of the oldest institutions 
in the world, a system that was old when the pyramids began to 
rise above the sands of Egypt. 

Slavery had now firmly fastened itself on the Southern 

States. The new Southwest, where a generation before there 

was only a wilderness, had now great cotton plan- 

The position of tations. Step by step, with the growth of the 

the slave . , ii ,11,., 

owners. nation, slavery had grown, and the whole indus- 

trial life of the South was built upon it. Before 
1835 or so, the majority of the Southern people still believed the 
system wrong or at least that slavery was a misfortune. But 
now they were beginning to defend it, not always as good in 
itself, but as the only system possible for the South. It was 
foolish and impossible, they declared, to discuss the subject as 
a purely theoretical matter; the negroes were there; and no other 
condition for them seemed possible, the Southerners maintained, 
but bondage, subjection to the superior white race. 

Naturally the slave-owners were incensed against an organi- 
zation which declared slaveholding to be a sin, calling for instant 
repentance. Men who had been surrounded by the 
The South system all their lives might see some of its bad ef- 

demands their -^ .11. 

suppression. f ccts, but Were not Willing to be denounced as crim- 
inals. Some of them now declared that abolition 
newspapers and pamphlets should be shut out from the mails, 
and the Governor of Alabama went so far as to demand that New 
York should turn over to his State for punishment the publisher 
of the Emancipator, an anti-slavery paper, on the ground that 
he had disseminated seditious articles (1835).^ The Southern 

^ The Constitution provides for the return of fugitives from justice to 
the State whence they have fled; but it makes no provision for the author- 



318 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

papers called for action on the part of the Northern States. 
"Words, words, words are all we are to have", said one. "Up 
to the mark the North must come if it would restore tran- 
quillity and preserve the Union", said another. The South was 
moving on dangerous ground. There was little sympathy with 
the Abolitionists at the North, but the excessive demands of 
the South were sure to bring about a reaction, in part at least. 
An occasional mob might attack "a fanatic", but there was little 
chance that the Northern people would turn over to Alabama a 
Northern man for punishment because he had written or said 
words distasteful to the South, or that they would suppress by 
law free speech on the subject of slavery. 

At the North the open Abolitionists were few, but seemed 
to be slowly increasing. At the South there was deep resent- 
ment. Sharp debates occurred in Congress. The 
Slavery South could look with uo patience on a movement 

question in a i i i • 

new phase. whose promoters denounced slave-holdmg as a car- 
dinal sin, and who refused to consider any plans or 
methods but immediate and unconditional abolition. Now be- 
gan that controversy which ended in the civil war. Sectional 
feeling grew constantly more bitter. 

A favorite idea of some Northern opponents of slavery, even 
when not Abolitionists, was to bring about the abolition of slav- 
ery in the District of Columbia. Petitions to this 

Adams and i j. /-~< • • • i a 

the gag. ^^^ came to Congress m increasmg numbers. A 

rule was proposed in the House providing that such 
petitions should not be printed or referred to a committee, but 
laid upon the table (1836). John Quincy Adams was then a 
member of the House, and when this rule was presented he rose 
and said: "I hold the resolution to be a direct violation of the 
Constitution of the United States, the rules of this House, and 
the rights of my constituents". The rule was adopted by a 
large majority; but from that time on Adams devoted himself 
to the presentation of anti-slavery petitions and to an attempt 
to bring about an abandonment of the so-called "gag-policy". 

ities of one State to turn over to another State a person charged with a 
crime in such second State when he did not actually flee from it. 



I 



SLAVERY AND THE TEXAS QUESTION 319 

He was not successful, however, until after eight years of effort. 
This long contest of Adams for the right of petition is full of 
striking and dramatic scenes. The pro-slavery men made a se- 
rious blunder when they tried to prevent debate on this great 
question. Not only did they array against them the keenest 



wt--;S5Sti;.iJNlit. 



^ 9ona ten- %mUnit^Ut\0tl^ Snrt0 bv 
JCSV NUTcTliilSON JUNI;. 



Cartoon Used as a Cover to an Emancipation Song Sung in 1844 by 

THE HuTCHINSONS 

The Hutchinsons were a famous family of singers who were active in the 
abolition movement. Rogers was the editor of the "Herald of Freedom," 
a pioneer anti-slavery newspaper, published in Concord, N. H. 

debater in the House, but the effort to stifle discussion awoke 
the interest of the nation, and thousands of men signed petitions 
or were won over to anti-slavery sentiment who otherwise would 
have taken no interest. The first eighteen months of the gag 
policy increased the number of anti-slavery petitions from 



320 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

twenty-three to three hundred thousand. The Abolitionists 
henceforth might be denounced, but they were safe from per- 
sonal violence. 

The opponents of slavery differed in their methods of work, 
as well as in the intensity of their beliefs and opinions. There 
were all shades, from those that did not like the 
Sver"y e?rments. systcm but disapproved of violent attacks upon it, 
to those that were as fierce as Garrison in their 
opposition. The Garrisonian Abolitionists, demanding repent- 
ance from sinners, would have nothing to do with ordinary po- 
litical methods; they looked upon a nation stained with slavery 
as already branded with infamy; they refused even to vote; they 
considered union with slave holders a wrong; and declared the 
Constitution, in the words of the Hebrew prophet, to be "a cov- 
enant with death and an agreement with hell".^ Others, the 
voting Abolitionists, felt otherwise; they formed the Liberty 
party and prepared to struggle against slavery in political con- 
flict. Still others simply objected to slavery without taking it 
up as a political matter. 

Things might have gone on this way for a long time; gradu- 
ally the North might have been won to intense and bitter oppo- 
sition, while the South held ever more strongly to 
Expanlioa. slavcry. But new conditions arose; Western ex- 
pansion had before this time raised the slavery 
question and made it a subject of heated discussion in Congress; 
for, while many men might be unwilling to force the subject of 
abolition on the South, they would not consent to the extension of 
the system into new regions. Every step in the westward move- 
ment and in acquisition of territory was sure to be accompanied 
with debate on slavery. Soon after the election of 1840, when 
politicians were still wrangling over the bank and the tariff, the 
country entered upon a new era; henceforward slavery would not 
down; henceforward, try as they would, men could iiot blind 

^ "And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agree- 
ment with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass 
through, then ye shall be trodden down by it". (Isaiah xxviii, 18.) 



SLAVERY AND THE TEXAS QUESTION 321 

their eyes to the great issue — should slave territory be increased 
or should slavery be hemmed in within its old limits and left to 
struggle on against fate and the forces of modern industrial so- 
ciety as best it could? 

For some time past the question of the annexation of Texas 
to the United States had been receiving a good share of the pub- 
lic attention. Let us look for a moment at the 
history of the whole matter. It will be remem- 
bered that in i8i9-'2i the United States agreed with Spain that 
the Sabine River should be our southwestern boundary. Under 
the Louisiana treaty we had ground for claiming even as far as 
the Rio Grande, but of course gave up our claim by the later 
agreement. Hardly had the treaty with Spain been agreed to 
when Mexico attained her independence and came into the own- 
ership of the Texas country. Settlers from the Southern States 
began to move into this territory. Before 1830 there was a con- 
siderable American population there, utterly out of sympathy 
with Mexico and her whole political system. In 1 836 the Texans 
declared their independence, and, led by Samuel Houston, fought 
and won the battle of San Jacinto. From that time on Mexican 
authority practically ceased. The next year Texas asked admit- 
tance to the Union. Many of the Southern people now became 
intent uponannexation because it would extend slave territory. 
Nothing of importance was done in Van Buren's administration, 
but after Tyler came into ofhce plans for getting Texas were seri- 
ously taken up, especially by some of the Southern enthusiasts. 
In 1844 Calhoun became Secretary of State. He bent all his 
energies toward the desired end. A treaty of annexation was 
secretly entered into, but it was rejected by the Senate. Texas 
claimed that she possessed more territory than the original Mex- 
ican province of that name, and indeed a much greater territory 
than she had ever acquired control of. She claimed all east and 
north of the Rio Grande.^ Annexation of the State and adop- 

1 "That is, as if Maine should secede, and claim that her boundaries 
were the Alleghanies and the Potomac — That is, as if Maine should 
join the Dominion of Canada, and England should set up a claim to the 
New England and Middle States, based on the declaration of Maine afore- 



322 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

tion of her claims meant probably a war with Mexico. Such was 
the situation when the election of 1844 occurred. 

It was generally supposed that Van Buren would be the 

Democratic candidate in this election. But he opposed the 

annexation of Texas, and was defeated in the con- 

Candidates in . . x t'" n ii £ nn 

jg vention. James K. rolk, 01 lennessee, was nom- 

inated in his stead. George M. Dallas, of Penn- 
sylvania, secured the nomination for Vice-President.^ Clay, 
too, objected to bringing Texas into the Union, but the Whigs 
nominated him with enthusiasm, and gave the second place to 
Theodore Frelinghuysen, of New Jersey. The Liberal party 
was again in the field, with Birney and Thomas Morris for their 
candidates. 

The burning question of the campaign was the annexation 
of Texas. In the midst of the contest, Clay, hoping to win 
friends of annexation without repelling its foes, 
Whigs" ^ wrote his famous Alabama letters. He declared 
he should be glad to see the annexation of Texas 
*' without dishonor, without war, with the common consent of 
the Union, and on just and fair terms". He did not think ''the 
subject of slavery ought to affect the matter". By these words 
he lost many Northern votes, without gaining any from the 
South or from the extreme annexationists, who were now shout- 
ing " Texas or disunion" ! On the whole, the Whigs were strongly 
opposed to the acquisition of more slave territory, and those who 
were not averse to the annexation of Texas strongly disapproved 
of hasty measures and the studied disregard of Mexico's protests. 

The Democratic party, however, by the nomination of Polk 
instead of Van Buren, and by the direct statements of its plat- 
form, was committed to annexation. Many Northern Democrats 
doubtless were opposed to slavery extension, but party ties 

said". (Sumner, Andrew Jackson, p. 357.) This illustration is in exag- 
gerated form, but shows certain aspects of the Texas situation. 

^ The Democratic platform demanded "the reoccupation of Oregon and 
the rcanncxation of Texas at the eariiest practical period". These words 
were shrewdly chosen to indicate that we had given up territory that was 
justly ours. 



SLAVERY AND THE TEXAS QUESTION 323 

held them close, and they voted for Polk and the ''reannexa- 
tion" of Texas. This was a turning point in the party history, 
for this sympathy with a movement which seemed 
intended, in large part at least, only to add an- 
other slave State to the Union alienated a number of old-time 
Democrats at the North and won new adherents at the South. 
The small farmers of the Northern States had from the beginning 
of the century belonged naturally in the ranks of the Democratic 
party beside the agriculturists of the South; but now this element 
began to drift away from its old moorings, either into the Whig 
party or into the party that was more definitely the foe of slavery 
and slavery extension. One must speak here only of tendencies 
and beginnings; for these changes were wrought out only gradu- 
ally. But we shall find that, in the course of fifteen years, the 
Democracy lost its hold upon the Northern States, and, by a 
careful examination, we can see that this loss took its marked 
beginnings with the Texas agitation and the nomination of Polk,^ 
The election was an exciting contest. While Texas was the 
absorbing topic, many sought to blind their own eyes or those 
of others to the real question. The tariff was dis- 
Eiection and cusscd at great length, and at the North especially 

results. 1844- , , • 1 • , 1 . , r , ^, , , 

both parties claimed to be its defenders. Clay had 
all the qualities of leadership and aroused the enthusiasm 
of the people. His party was devoted to him; it hardly 
seemed possible to his eager followers that the cold and austere 
Polk could defeat the peerless Clay. "Who is Polk, anyway"? 
they exclaimed. But the Whigs lost, and were wofully cast 
down. "It was", said an eye-witness, "as if the firstborn of 
every family had been stricken down".- The Liberty party 



1 The large number of German, Scotch, and English immigrants now 
coming into the country— the Germans especially after their own failures 
in getting liberal government (1848) — were not likely to take their places 
in a party which appeared to be in the hands of Southern slave owners. 

' Clay's defeat was in part attributed to his Alabama letters, which 
alienated the strong anti-slavery vote. After the election, a disconsolate 
Whig is said to have declared that he wanted, the next time, a candidate 
who could neither read nor write. 



324 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



cast over 60,000 votes, and had they given their ballots to Clay 

he would have been elected. 

Tyler and his helpmates, intent upon the annexation of 

Texas, believed that the result of the election gave full warrant 
for immediate action. Florida and Louisiana had 
been annexed by treaty. But Texas was an inde- 
pendent power, and it was proposed to pass a joint 

resolution inviting her into the Union. If a treaty were made, 

it would be necessary that two-thirds of the Senate should vote 



Annexation 
of Texas. 




Texas 



to confirm it, and such a vote could not be secured. A resolu- 
tion required only a majority of each House. This, then, 
seemed the only feasible plan for the annexationists. A joint 
resolution was passed giving the President authority either to 
invite Texas into the Union as a State or to negotiate formally 
with her concerning admission. It declared that four new 



SLAVERY AND THE TEXAS QUESTION 325 

States besides Texas might be made out of her territory, but 
that in any new States so formed there should be no slavery 
north of 36° 30'. Tyler did not hesitate which of the alterna- 
tives to accept. He did not wish to leave the honor of annexa- 
tion to Polk; so the day before he left office he sent off a messen- 
^^ . . . srer in hot haste to the "Lone Star Republic" with 

The admission ° . . ^ '^ 

of Texas the proposals for immediate union (March, 1845). 
beginning of Tcxas, of coursc, accepted the invitation. This was 

the beginning of the end; from this time on the pol- 
icy of slavery extension found thousands and tens of thousands 
of bitter opponents at the North. Texas was the last slave State 
admitted to the Union. Texas claimed all the land north and 
east of the Rio Grande River from its mouth to its source, and 
south and west of the line of i8i9-'2i. By this annexation there 
was added to the United States 376,163 square miles of territory, 
an area greater than that of France and England combined. The 
accession of so much slave territory naturally startled the North 
and made men watchful and suspicious. We must not think 
that there was as yet anything like a united sentiment at the 
North against the extension of slavery, but every year and every 
new success on the part of the South tended to awaken and 
strengthen anti-slavery feeling. Up to this time the North had 
rested in some security, because slavery was hemmed in by the 
Missouri compromise line and the southern and western limits 
of the Union. In the future there was to be little security; the 
annexation of Texas showed a new way of adding to the limits 
of slavery. 

James K. Polk was in many ways a remarkable man. When 
he was nominated for the presidency he was not well known, 

though he had been in Congress, and even Speaker 

James K. Polk. . , *' ^^ ^ , ° ' y rr • ^ 

of the House. But when he assumed ornce it be- 
came apparent that he was no pygmy; and as one studies his 
career in the light of historical evidence it is seen that he was in 
some sort a man of iron, with unyielding determination and un- 
flinching purpose. He was a keen and unrelenting partisan, but 
conscientiously devoted to the interests of his country as he saw 
them. Altogether pure and upright in private life, in politics 



326 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

his feelings were not delicate; there was a certain hard, narrow 
intensity and keenness about him, which were not conducive 
to generous and magnanimous views in politics or diplomacy. 
His cabinet was composed of able men. The more important 
were James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, Secretary of State; 
Robert J. Walker, of Mississippi, Secretary of the Treasury; 
William L. Marcy, of New York, Secretary of War; George 
Bancroft, of Massachusetts, the historian. Secretary of the Navy. 
At the very beginning of his administration the President 
privately announced the purpose not only of establishing the 

independent Treasury and reducing the tariff, but 
plans ^^^^ ^° ^ ^^^^ ^^ settling the northwestern boundary trouble 

and acquiring California. He succeeded in ac- 
complishing all these objects. The independent Treasury was 
reestablished. A new tariff act was passed materially lowering 
the duties and making inroads upon the protective system so 
dear to the Whigs. How he achieved his other objects we shall 
see as we go on. 

Texas, as we have seen, accepted the invitation to enter the 
Union. This was in the summer of 1845. Congress installed 
her as a State in the Union in December of that year. Before 
that was done, however — ^before, in fact, Texas was legally part 
of the United States — Polk sent troops within her boundaries to 
defend her against possible attack, and to make sure that an- 
nexation was not interrupted by Mexican interference. General 
Zachary Taylor was ordered to Texas, and in November had 
about four thousand men in his command. He took a position 
on the left bank of the Nueces River. 

While the plans for the acquisition of Texas were being thus 
carried to a successful end, hopes of new possessions in the 

Northwest were likewise awakened. For some 
tion of^Orego^n. Y^ars the land beyond the Rocky Mountains and 

north of California, known as the Oregon country, 
had been jointly occupied by England and the United States; 
each claimed the title, but for the time being agreed not to de- 
mand exclusive rights there. Our demands were based (i) on 
the Louisiana purchase, a shadowy title, (2) upon the Spanish 



SLAVERY AND THE TEXAS QUESTION 



327 



cession of iSiQ-'ai, (3) upon early exploration, and (4) upon 
settlement and occupation. England's claims were similar. 
She claimed by discovery, basing her title in the first place on 
the voyage of Drake in 
the time of Queen Eliz- 
abeth. Later explora- 
tion helped to substan- 
tiate her title, and 
settlements had been 
made by English sub- 
jects on Nootka Sound 
even at the end of the 
last century. Of the 
valley of the Columbia, 
however, or at least the 
larger portion of it, we 
were fairly well assured, 
because for some years 
emigrants from the 
States had been making 
their way thither, and 
even now (1845-46) the 
emigrant wagons were 
carrying many new set- 
tlers to the region. This 
actual occupation gave 
us nine clear points in 
law. The ''reoccupa- Showing the claims of Great Britain and the 
^. '„ r r\ 11 United States and the lines established by 

tion of Oregon had various treaties 

been coupled in the pres- 
idential campaign with the " reannexation " of Texas, for we 
claimed both under the Louisiana treaty, and now, after the inau- 
guration of Polk, there was a popular demand, especially from the 
Western States, for "the whole of Oregon", and the cry was 
raised of "Fifty-four forty or fight".^ It looked for a time, in- 

^ Fifty-four forty was the southern point of Alaska, then in the posses- 
sion of Russia, known as Russian America. 




The Oregon Country 



328 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

deed, as if war might ensue, because it could hardly be 
hoped that England would consent to having her American 
dominions limited by the Rocky Mountains. The difficulty 
was finally settled, however, by a compromise. The forty- 
ninth parallel already marked the division between the British 
dominions and those of the United States as far west as the 
mountains, and the same line was now agreed upon as the 
boundary through to the Pacific.^ 

War did not break out immediately upon the annexation 
of Texas, as might well have been the case. The claims of 
Texas were so extraordinary that Mexico could 
Texas?^*^ not admit them to be just, inasmuch as they in- 

cluded not alone the old province of Texas, but a 
large territory besides over which the State had not succeeded 
in establishing control, and to which she had title only by asser- 
tion. What were the boundaries of Texas as a province of 
Mexico is somewhat difficult to say, and, in fact, what they were 
makes little difference. The Texans had certainly not made 
good, by war and occupation, a title to more than so much of 
the Mexican territory as lay north of the Nueces River and east 
of the present eastern boundary of New Mexico. By our assump- 
tion of the claim of Texas to all the land north and east of the 
Rio Grande from its mouth to its source, and by any endeavor 
to follow up our claim by taking actual possession of the dis- 
puted portion, we were sure to bring on war, unless Mexico was 
submissive and ready to bow before the superior strength of the 
United States. But such was not the case. Poor, weak, torn 
by internal strife and dissension, the Mexicans still retained a 
modicum of their old Spanish spirit. They were not given to 
self-control at the best, and were now greatly irritated. 



1 The statement in the text is substantially accurate, but it is worth 
remarking that the line ran to sea water, and then followed the middle of 
the channel dividing Vancouver's Island from the main, and then through 
the middle of Fuca Strait. A dispute later arose as to what was the middle 
or the main channel. In 1872 the German Emperor, chosen as arbitrator, 
gave his decision in favor of America. Thus ninety years elapsed (1782- 
1872) before our northern line was finally determined. See map, p. 337. 



SLAVERY AND THE TEXAS QUESTION 329 

Historians have long been troubled by the Texas affair and 
the resulting war with Mexico; the whole incident has often been 
considered the work of sly, underhanded manage- 
S^Mei^:?^"* ment. The annexation of Texas certainly has its 
dark side, for we claimed more than the real 
Texas. But we are not so ready now to denounce the whole 
transaction as we were a few years ago, when every act that 
added to slave territory seemed to Northern writers of history 
to bear a dark and bitter stain. If Mexico was in straits and 
was greatly irritated, the situation for us was also full of annoy- 
ance, and we now know that England and France were anxious 
to keep Texas out of our hands chiefly because they disliked 
American growth. Even Mexico had reluctantly prepared to 
acknowledge the independence of Texas if she would not join 
the United States. 

Undoubtedly Polk wanted California, to which, of course, 
we had absolutely no claim. The great Western lands beyond 
the mountains lay almost undeveloped, almost as untouched as 
they were when the little Roman Catholic mission was founded 
on the magnificent harbor that was named after the noble Saint 
Francis; the whole region was held in the nerveless, incompetent 
hands of Mexico. While we cannot say that Polk deliberately 
picked a quarrel with Mexico in order to get the harbor and an- 
nex the Western region, undoubtedly that desire influenced him, 
and the air was full of expansion spirit, a spirit quite as much 
Western as Southern.^ Had Mexico been strong and reasonable, 
all our longing for San Francisco harbor would have proved no 
excuse for pouncing upon it; had we been more generous, had 
we felt more sympathy for the feeble, excitable Mexicans, per- 
haps we should have obtained it without resorting to the brutal 
decision of arms. The Far West, which soon proved to be 
golden, belonged perhaps by a manifest destiny to the Anglo- 
Saxon man; but we should gladly look back upon the acquisition 

^Well expressed in 1848 by a senator from Illinois who took to poetry 
to express his sentiments.— 

"No pent-up Utica contracts our powers, 
But the whole boundless continent is ours". 



330 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

of the vast territory as the product of peaceful expansion and be 
clear in our own minds that we had always treated the difiicult 
Mexicans with exaggerated generosit]^ and patience. 

Although one must acknowledge that the South was moved 
by a desire to attain more territory for slavery, that the Western 

spirit of expansion was aggressive, and that Polk 
Geography and ^^g j^qj- precisely magnanimous in his treatment of 
destiny. Mcxico, we should not forget that the American 

feeling of manifest destiny had a physical basis. 
Texas was to all intents and purposes part of the central valley of 
the continent, the greater portion of which had become part of the 
American possessions; the Rio Grande seemed to be the only 
reasonable halting place in the forward movement of the popu- 
lation toward the Southwest. This energetic forward move- 
ment into the unsettled regions of the West had been going on 
since the English colonists first settled on the Atlantic coast, and 
with redoubled energy since the beginning of the nineteenth 
century. Aptitude for settling new areas and for subduing the 
wilderness, zeal for more land and wider dominion, had become 
national traits. "It would be vain to expect", said Calhoun, 
"that we could prevent our people from penetrating into Cali- 
fornia. Even before our present difficulties with Mexico the 
process had begun. We alone can people this region with an 
industrious and civilized race, which can develop its resources 
and add a new and extensive region to the domain of commerce 
and civilization".^ Benton was opposed to the methods of 
annexation, and denounced intrigue; but he desired the acquisi- 
tion of the country by honorable means. His words show us 
that the movement was not merely a Southern conspiracy to 

^ These weeds were spoken after the war with Mexico had begun. Cal- 
houn, it may be said, was opposed to the war. but believed that our acqui- 
sition of the We,st was a foregone conclusion. We must remember that 
from the very beginning of English colonization the settlers in America had 
been pitted against other nations for the possession of the continent. The 
acquisition of Texas and California was another step in the great contest 
with Spain for dominion in America — a contest that began with Sir Humph- 
rey Gilbert and his desire to build up a colonial realm for England and to 
weaken the power of Spain. (See chapter ii.) 



SLAVERY AND THE TEXAS QUESTION 331 

extend slavery. "We want Texas", he said — "that is to say, 
the Texas of La Salle; and we want it for great natural reasons 
obvious as day, and permanent as Nature". 

References 

Wilson, Division and Reunion, pp. 1 17-149; Burgess, Middle 
Period, Chapters XI, XIII-XV; von Holst, Calhoun, pp. 123-274; 
Morse, John Quincy Adams, pp. 242-306; Schurz, Henry Clay, 
Volume II, Chapters XVII, XXI, XXIV, Chapter XXV to p. 283. 
Longer accounts: Schouler, Volume IV, pp. 202-226, 245-256, 296- 
313, 422-523; McMaster, Volume VI, pp. 271-298, 467-493, Volume 
VII, pp. 228-439; Garrison, Westward Extension, Chapters I, II, 
VI-XI, XIII-XIV. The general subject of slavery is discussed in 
Hkkt, Slavery and Abolition, Q?>^e.c{2t\\y Chapters XII, XVIII. For 
a general view of the slavery issue in American history, see J. F. 
Rhodes, History of the United States since the Compromise of 1850, 
Volume I, Chapter I. For conditions in the South see Chapter IV 
of the same work. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

WAR WITH MEXICO; SHALL SLAVE-TERRITORY 
BE INCREASED? 

The land between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande 
was claimed by the United States as a part of Texas; but Mexico 
was not ready to give up her title. In the early 
part of 1846 Polk, without sending word of his 
intention to Congress, which was then in session, ordered Gen- 
eral Taylor to take a position on the left bank of the Rio Grande. 
Taylor obeyed, and, moving to the river, intrenched himself 
opposite the Mexican town of Matamoras, where there were 
Mexican troops. "The armies being thus in presence, with 
anger in their bosoms and arms in l-ieir hands, that took place 
which everybody foresaw must take place — collisions and hos- 
tilities". ^ A detachment of Mexican troops was sent across the 
river, and a small body of Americans was attacked and a few 
were killed. When the news reached the President, he sent a 
message to Congress declaring that "Mexico has passed the 
boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory, and 
shed American blood upon American soil". War existed, he 
declared, notwithstanding all efforts to avoid it, and existed "by 
the act of Mexico herself". Congress declared, May 13, 1846, 
that war existed by act of Mexico. Money was appropriated, 
and the President was authorized to call for fifty thousand 
volunteers. 

There was now no help for it, and the country prepared for 
war. It was from the first popular with many. But, on the 
other hand, a strong element was bitterly opposed, not knowing 
in their bewilderment where the land hunger of the nation 

^ Benton, Thirty Years' View, vol. ii, p. 679. 
332 



MEXICAN WAR; SLAVE TERRITORY 333 

would carry it. To the Whigs it seemed a Democratic war. 
Not all were opposed; but some of those who had been averse 
to the annexation of Texas were ready to denounce 
War unpopular these bloody consequenccs. To the antislavery 
persons. element at the North it seemed a war on be- 

half of slavery and for the extension of slave 
territory. The feelings of these men were well voiced in 
the Biglow Papers, which were at this juncture written 
by James Russell Lowell and were very widely read. The 
keen sarcasm and homely humor of these verses — more 
effective than argument — made converts to the antislav- 
ery cause; the war was more seriously attacked in these 
telling lines than by scores of pamphlets and speeches.^ 

The first engagement of the war took place on the northern 
side of the Rio Grande. Taylor's defences were attacked in his 
absence, but the garrison obeyed to the letter the 
bat«es^* instructions which their general had left: "Defend 

the fort to the death". The attack was repulsed. 
Then followed the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, 
May 8 and 9, 1846. The Americans, under Taylor, were greatly 
outnumbered, but fought with gallantry. The Mexicans were 
defeated, and withdrew across the Rio Grande. The Americans 
followed, and occupied Matamoras. After waiting here for a 
time that reenforcements might be obtained, they pushed on 
into the enemy's country, and in September reached Monterey, 
a strongly fortified city. Here there was heavy fighting, but 
battery after battery was taken by assault, and the place fell. 
Taylor then' moved forward again. In February (1847) oc- 

^"I dunno but wut it's pooty, 

Trainin' round in bobtail coats, — 
But it's cur'us Christian dooty, 
This 'ere cuttin' folks's throats. 



They jest want this Californy 

So's to lug new slave States in 
To abuse ye, an' to scorn ye. 
An' to plunder ye like sin". 



334 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



curred the battle of Buena Vista. The Mexicans had four 
times as many troops as the Americans, but the American army 
was posted in a strong position. The Mexicans fought \vi:h 
great courage and obstinacy, but they were beaten again. The 
whole of the surrounding country, by reason of this victory, fell 
into the hands of the Americans. 




4^ 



Pont,. 

I m'T^I"!'!-"* 1*1..". .(-\-rro Gol'do 

^ Mexico' 



*sVf la Ciuz 



Field of the War with Mexico 



In the meantime General Kearney marched across the 
plains to Santa Fe, hoisted the American flag there, and pro- 
claimed New Mexico a part of the United States. 
atKTcaiifornia. ^^ ^^^^ marched on into California, and reached 
San Diego. Long before his arrival, however, the 
principal part of that region had passed into our hands. For 
some time a squadron had been kept on the Western coast, ready 



MEXICAN WAR ; SLAVE TERRITORY 335 

to pounce upon the prize. When war was begun — in fact, even 
before it was known that an express declaration had been made 
— Monterey was seized. San Francisco and other chief harbors 
were also occupied. 

A new movement was begun in the early spring of 1847. 
General Scott took Vera Cruz, and began a march to the city 
of Mexico. A fierce battle took place at Cerro 
army.'^ "^^ ^ Gordo, where the Mexicans, as usual, fought with 
bravery, and, as usual, were beaten.^ Scott led 
his army forward again, meeting with little opposition until near 
the enemy's capital. Here there were strong defences; but the 
Americans won a series of unbroken victories. The soldiers 
fought bravely, while Scott and his lieutenants showed great 
skill and daring. In September the heights of Chapultepec 
were stormed and the city of Mexico was taken. Peace was 
soon after concluded.- 

The war was not concluded— indeed, was hardly well begun 
— before the inevitable slavery question arose in Congress. In 
August, 1846, the President asked for money to 
proviso""" ^^^ ^^ bringing the war to a close. It was sup- 
posed that the money was to be used to buy terri- 
tory, and a bill was introduced into the House appropriating 



1 General Grant, who served as a second lieutenant in this war, speaks 
thus of the Mexican troops: "The Mexicans, as on many other occasions, 
stood up as well as any troops ever did. The trouble seemed to be the lack 
of experience among the officers, which led them after a certain time to 
quit, without being particularly whipped, but because they had fought 
enough". This remark is characteristic of Grant, who did not iight in that 
way himself. 

- This was in one way a remarkable war. Our troops won everj' pitched 
battle. Scott marched for two hundred miles and more into the enemy's 
country, and wrested stronghold after stronghold from the hands of greatly 
superior forces. This war was in marked contrast with the War of 181 2. 
Both were party wars; but in this one the generals were fit to command, 
and the soldiers were thoroughly disciplined and equipped. Many of the 
generals who afterward became prominent in the Civil War obtained in 
Mexico their first practical lessons in military art. Ulysses S. Grant and 
Robert E. Lee served in subordinate positions, both with credit. This war, 
in more than one sense, was the precursor of the civil war. 



336 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

two million dollars. David Wilmot, a Democratic Represen- 
tative from Pennsylvania, proposed that there be added to the 
bill a proviso that slavery should never exist within any territory 
acquired from Mexico. The bill with this proviso passed the 
House, but did not pass the Senate. The same contest between 
the two houses took place the next year; but the Senate finally 
won, and an appropriation of three million dollars was made 
without the anti-slavery condition. The "Wilmot proviso" was 
for several years used as a general phrase — not with special ref- 
erence to the amendment of Wilmot, but to the principle which 
it contained. All who were opposed to the extension of slavery 
were said to be in favor of the "Wilmot proviso". 

By the terms of the treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo (Febru- 
ary 2, 1848), the United States became possessed not only of the 
disputed territory, which had been claimed by 
The treaty of Tcxas, but of a vast territory to the west as well. 
Hidalgo. The boundary line agreed upon ran up the Rio 

Grande to the southern boundary of New Mexico, 
thence along the southern boundary to the western limit of New 
Mexico, up these western limits to the Gila River, thence along 
that river to the Colorado, and from the junction of these two 
rivers followed the line dividing Upper and Lower California to 
the Pacific Ocean. 1 The United States paid $15,000,000 in cash, 
and agreed to pay in addition claims of its citizens on the Mex- 
ican Government to an amount not exceeding $3,250,000, and 
other claims already definitely allowed by Mexico. A glance 
at the map will show how much was secured by this cession as 
the fruit of the war. There was thus added to the United 
States about 875,000 square miles, including Texas and what is 
now the State of California. 



' In 1853, due to the fact that some question had arisen about this 
boundary, and because a proposed route for a railroad to the Pacific ran 
somewhat south of our line at the Gila River, another purchase was made 
from Mexico. This was known as the Gadsden purchase, and included 
47-33° square miles. The map will show the la.nd so acquired. The sum 
paid was $10,000,000. 



MEXICAN WAR; SLAVE TERRITORY 



337 











ACQUISITION OF TERUITORY 
IN THE IVEST 1803-53 

The line marked XY was undetermined 
and in dispute arid partly on this account 
the GADSDEN PURCHASE was made 



Territorial 
expansion. 



The result of Polk's aggressive policy, aided by Southern 
zeal and the native land hunger of the nation, was an astonish- 
ing increase of the national domain in the course 
of four years. March 4, 1845, the western boun- 
dary of the United States was the line of 1819, and 
we occupied, jointly with Great Britain, the Oregon country. 
In 1848 the republic stretched from sea to sea, and as far south 
as the Rio Grande River. The Bay of San Francisco, the cov- 
23 



338 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

eted harbor of the western coast, was in our hands. If we in- 
clude Oregon in the acquisitions of this administration, over 
1,000,000 square miles were added to American territory, more 
than the whole area of the United States when its independence 
was acknowledged by Great Britain.^ 

The country might well be lifted up as it contemplated its 
greatness and exalted the courage and skill of our soldiers in 

Mexico. But the acquisition of this new territory 
forebodiM^" was at oncc the cause of great foreboding and of 

deep and bitter feeling. Territorial expansion was 
especially in favor at the South, and yet, even before the war 
was ended, and before the land for which the soldiers were fight- 
ing was securely wrested from Mexico, the slaveholders saw men 
at the North asserting that slavery should not be admitted into 
any part of the territory acquired. To many at the South this 
seemed like robbing them of the just spoils of conquest. 

The people were fully awake to the momentousness of the 
issue. The North was divided. Few were desirous of seeing 

slavery admitted to the new territory; but many 
be^extended? werc not in Sympathy with a policy which would 

rigidly exclude the Southerner with his human 
property, because they believed that the question would settle 
itself, if men would only consent to let it alone. Such persons 
looked upon "agitation" as the great evil, because discussion 
of the slavery question angered the South and endangered the 
Union, Others, an increasing number, were now flatly opposed 
to further extension of slavery, and they demanded the prin- 
ciple of the Wilmot proviso without qualification and without 
delay. Let us not mistake the situation. It is not true that 
for fifteen years before the civil war a solid North faced a solid 
South. The South naturally was nearly a unit on the principle 



Square miles. Square miles. 

'Texas (1845) 376,163 Austrian Empire 240,942 

First Mexican cession..., 545,753 Germany, France, and Spain 613,093 

Oregon 284,828 Sweden and Italy 285,383 

1,206,744 1,13,9,418 



MEXICAN WAR; SLAVE TERRITORY 339 

of extending slavery, or at least declared the slaveholders' right 
to move into the new possessions of the nation — possessions 
obtained by the expenditure of national blood and treasure. 
On the other hand, Northern sentiment was divided; only a 
minority were deeply enough in earnest to make opposition to 
slavery the first and controlling motive of political conduct. 
As the years went by this number grew larger, until something 
like a solid North faced a solid South. It will be our task to 
watch the phases of this movement toward a unity of sentiment 
at the North. 1 

In 1847, General Lewis Cass, then Senator from Michigan 
and a leader in the Democratic party, wrote his famous Nichol- 
son letter. He had been a prominent candidate 
sovereignity. ^^^ ^^^ presidential nomination in 1844, and was 
now mentioned as the standard bearer of the party 
in the ensuing campaign. His letter, when published, there- 
fore won attention. It announced a new doctrine. It declared 
that the National Government ought not to interfere with the 
domestic concerns of the Territories, and, in short, asserted that 
the existence of slavery was a question with which the people of 
the Territories must deal themselves. He even denied that 
Congress had the constitutional authority to regulate the in- 
ternal affairs of a Territory. "I do not see in the Constitution 
any grant of the requisite power to Congress; and I am not dis- 
posed to extend a doubtful precedent beyond its necessity — the 
establishment of Territorial governments, when needed — leav- 
ing to the inhabitants all the rights compatible with the relation 
they bear to the Confederation". Thus was stated the doctrine 
later known as "popular sovereignty". 

By the summer of 1848 there were four propositions before 
the country concerning slavery in the territory acquired from 



^The student must not be confused by details and prevented from see- 
ing the main drift and meaning of events. From now on to 1861 the ques- 
tion ever growing more important was whether or not slavery should be 
hemmed insi*de its old limits, or be allowed to expand and occupy the 
West. 



340 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

Mexico, (i) That of Calhoun, who declared that the territory 

so acquired belonged to the States, and that a Southern man 

had as eood a right to carry his slave with him 

Different propo- , , ,-. i , i • xt i , , 

sitions regard- mto the t cdcral domam as a Northern man had 
ing slavery to take his shccp or his oxen. (2) The doctrine of 
extension. ^^^ Wilmot proviso, wMch declared it to be the 

moral duty of Congress to keep slavery out of the public domain, 
The most ardent advocates of this principle denied that Con- 
gress had the right to legalize slavery in national territory. 
(3) The doctrine of the Nicholson letter. (4) The extension 
of the line of 36° 30' through to the Pacific as the boundary be- 
tween slavery and freedom. The idea was already spread 
abroad among the Northern people that this new West was ill 
adapted to slave labor; many therefore favored a policy of neg- 
lect, hoping thereby to soothe the South, whose peculiar insti- 
tution would be driven from the region by Nature herself, whose 
laws were stronger than any enactments of men. Persons hold- 
ing this idea were likely to support either the third or the fourth 
of the propositions just given. 

As the presidential campaign approached the Democratic 
party found itself divided. In New York there were the "Old 
Hunkers", and the " Barnburners". 1 The latter 
' faction was personally devoted to Van Buren, and 
expressed its "uncompromising hostility to the extension of 
slavery into territory now free". The Hunkers were "stand 
patters", willing to take the whole "hunk", and keeping quiet 
on the slavery issue. The National Democratic Convention 
nominated Cass for the presidency, and William 0. Butler, of 
Kentucky, for the vice-presidency. A platform was adopted 
full of safe sayings, but not definitely committing the party on 
the slavery question. 

The Whigs, too, were not united. In the East there were 
"Conscience Whigs" and "Cotton Whigs". In the Northwest 
there was a strong anti-slavery element. The leaders of the party 
at large, however, were desirous of avoiding the dread issue, 

^ For the origin of these names see Shephard's Van Buren, p. 354; Mc- 
Laughlin's Cass, p. 237. 



MEXICAN WAR; SLAVE TERRITORY 341 

and the convention, when it met, firmly held its peace on the 
great question which everybody knew was in everybody's 
The whi s thoughts. Clay was still popular, but many 

feared his candidacy. Now was the time to win 
again, as the party had won eight years before, by nominating 
a popular soldier unembarrassed by a political past; and so 
General Taylor was put in nomination. Millard Fillmore, of 
New York, was nominated for Vice-President. These nomina- 
tions meant nothing, except that the Whigs did not dare to an- 
nounce principles, but hoped for success by mere dint of shout- 
ing for "Old Rough and Ready", as Taylor was called. 

The anti-slavery Whigs had hoped for an anti-slavery plat- 
form, and when they found the party ready to hide itself behind 

a popular name they declared that they would not 
sellers. ' b^ bound by party ties. The Barnburners and 

other dissatisfied Democrats were likewise aroused 
and ready for independent action. In August a convention at 
Buffalo nominated Martin Van Buren and Charles Francis 
Adams. This was the beginning of the Free-soil party. The 
Liberty party coalesced with it. It was devoted, without shad- 
ow of turning, to the principle of free soil. "Congress", it de- 
clared, "has no more right to make a slave than to make a king", 
"Thunders of applause" are said to have followed the reading 
from the platform of such sentences as this: "Resolved, that we 
inscribe on our banner free soil, free speech, free labor, and free 
men, and under it we will fight on and fight ever, until a tri- 
umphant victory shall reward our exertions". The great 
revolt at the North against slavery extension was fairly 
begun. 

Thus there were three candidates in the field. Two of the 
parties refused to express definite opinions on the slavery ques- 
tion; but one of them nominated a slave owner, and the other 
chose as its leader the man who had given out his belief that 
Congress could not legislate on the subject of slavery in the 
Territories. Taylor and Fillmore were elected. The Free- 
soilers cast over two hundred and ninety thousand votes, and 
held the balance of power in some of the Northern States. 



342 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



Zachary Taylor. 



Although both of the old parties blinded their eyes to the great 
problem, it remained to be solved, and could not be escaped. 
Moreover, there were tens of thousands of men at the North 
that were now insisting that it must be solved by a recognition 
of principle. 

General Taylor's life up to the time of his election to the 
Presidency had been spent in large measure as a soldier in the 
regular army. He owned a plantation in Louisi- 
ana and several hundred slaves. He was an hon- 
est, straightforward man, free from all pretence, with a soldierly 
devotion to duty, and with a very clear sense of right and justice. 

In political experience he was 
totally lacking, and his knowl- 
edge of public men and events 
was necessarily limited. He is 
said to have supposed, until a 
short time before his arrival at 
Washington to assume office, 
that the Vice-President was ex 
officio a member of his Cabinet. 
In spite of his unfamiliarity with 
the formalities and duties of 
his position, his frankness and 
honesty did not ill fit him for 
the presidency in the trying 
days that were before the peo- 
ple. Slaveholder as he was, 
he could see no reason for 
doing aught to fasten slavery on regions where the in- 
habitants did not want it, and he could be relied upon to act 
with what seemed to him complete fairness. 

During Polk's administration the balance between Southern 

and Northern States had been preserved. Florida was admitted 

in 184 c;, and Iowa in 1846. The admission of 

New States. ^^' ^ 

Texas was offset by the entrance of Wisconsm mto 
the Union in 1848. In the summer of that year Oregon was 
established as a territory. The act of establishment forbade 




'Zci.C/C£>cy-^-^/\^:t^< 



MEXICAN WAR; SLAVE TERRITORY 343 

slavery or involuntary servitude within the territorial limits. 
Save as the laws of Mexico were recognized or 
pr'Tbifm!'* military rule might be enforced, the Territory ac- 

quired from Mexico as the result of the war was still 
without legal organization. It was necessary for Congress to 
act at once. 

California presented peculiar difficulties. In 1848 gold was 
discovered there. This discovery soon made a deep impression 
on the minds of the Eastern people, and in 1849 
c^'iforaia. ^ great migration to the new gold coast set in. 

Thousands and tens of thousands left their homes 
in the East to hunt for riches. Long trains of wagons started 
on the weary journey over the Western prairies. Every sort 
of ocean craft was pressed into service that the eager crowds 
might be carried "around the Horn" or landed at the Isthmus 
of Panama, to make their way across as best they might. Law- 
yers, ministers, school-teachers, mechanics, men from all walks 
of life, old and young, hastened away to the gold fields to make 
their fortunes in a day. The population of California grew with 
astounding rapidity. Something like eighty thousand persons 
arrived there in a single year. San Francisco changed from a 
hamlet to a city in a twelvemonth. The mad race for the gold 
diggings brought together a motley crowd. There was no law 
save the rough code of the mining camp. The whole territory 
was on the very verge of anarchy; but there was underneath it 
all a strong sentiment of order. 

These people, thus quickly swept together into a community 
almost without law, show^ed in the end rare talent for organiza- 
tion. In September, 1849, delegates met in con- 
Caiifornia vention, adopted a State Constitution, and pre- 

Constitution. pared to seek admission into the Union. A clause 
prohibiting slavery was adopted without difficulty. 
The people ratified the Constitution, and elected State officers 
and members of Congress. 

When Congress met, therefore, in December, 1849, serious 
problems demanded immediate solution, (i) California, with 
a free Constitution, claimed immediate admission into the 



344 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

Union. Such admission was strongly opposed by the South, 
for it would destroy the balance between the States, because 

there was no slave State ready for entrance, nor 
pn)"°ems. ^^^ there likely to be for some time to come. (2) 

Some sort of Territorial government must be estab- 
lished in the rest of the land obtained from Mexico, and it must 
be decided whether slavery should be recognized there or not. 
(3) Moreover, there was a contest between Texas and the peo- 
ple of the old Mexican province of New Mexico. Texas, it will 
be remembered, seceded from Mexico, claiming all land north 
and east of the Rio Grande River. But the province of New 
Mexico had in reality extended considerably to the east of this 
river, and the Texans had never succeeded in making good their 
claim to this region. The people of New Mexico objected to 
having their province divided and the eastern portion of it 
embraced in the State of Texas. This contest Congress was 
called upon to settle. (4) In addition to all of these difficulties, 
slavery presented others. The Northerners were, year by year, 
more hostile to the whole institution, and the existence of slav- 
ery in the District of Columbia was especially irritating. Slaves 
were bought and sold within sight of the Capitol, and this 
seemed to Northern sentiment a disgrace no longer to be borne. 
(5) Many desired also the suppression of the trade in slaves be- 
tween the States, as clearly within the power of the United 
States Government. (6) The Southerners, resenting any inter- 
ference with the traffic in slaves, made serious charges against 
the North; they charged all the North with the sins of abolition- 
ism ; they demanded a more stringent fugitive slave law, in order 
that they might thus recover the hundreds of slaves that yearly 
escaped and made their way to the North. 

Through the winter of 1849-50 the feeling was intense. 
Southern men felt that they were now struggling for a last 

hope. Texas, with its wide prairies, was indeed 
in danger. theirs, but it now seemed possible that slavery 

would be shut out of the Mexican cession, because 
even the people of New Mexico did not wish it. The Virginia 
Legislature passed resolutions declaring that the adoption and 



MEXICAN WAR ; SLAVE TERRITORY 345 

attempted enforcement of the Wilmot proviso would leave to the 
people but two courses: one, of "abject submission to aggression 
and outrage"; the other, "determined resistance at all hazards 
and to the last extremity". The Union seemed to be in danger, 
for the South was exasperated and utterly in earnest. "All now 
is uproar", wrote Clay, "confusion, and menace to the existence 
of the Union and to the happiness and safety of the people". 

To the task of quieting the storm and of saving the Union 

Clay now applied himself. He hoped that each section might 

be brought to yield a portion of its claims and that 

Clay's compro- ^qq^qq could be secured by compromise. No one 

nuse measures, '■ iiii 

1850. was better fitted for the task than he. He was a 

slave owner and believed that it was riveted on the 
South, but he had no great love for slavery. He knew South- 
ern life and passions, but he knew Northern life and prejudices 
quite as well. His popularity was great, for his sympathies 
were wide and deep, and for forty years he had stood before 
the people as a faithful representative of American ideas. He 
introduced into the Senate, in January, a series of resolutions 
dealing with the subjects of controversy. He proposed, among 
other things, (i) to admit California; (2) to establish Territories 
without saying anything about slavery; (3) to pass a fugitive 
slave law; (4) to pay Texas to give up her claim in New Mex- 
ico; (5) to declare that it was inexpedient to abolish slavery in 
the District of Columbia, but (6) to abolish the slave trade there. 
These resolutions were the subjects of discussion for months. 
All through the summer of 1850 North and South anxiously 
. ^ watched the movements of Congress. The Senate 

Great debates. 

was the chief arena of debate. Great speeches 
were made by Clay, Webster, Calhoun, Seward, and others. 
Webster greatly disappointed thousands of his Northern ad- 
mirers by supporting the compromise, and declar- 
Webster's jj^pr that slavery need not be excluded by law from 

7th of March , ° ,^- -^ _ . . , •'. 

speech. the uew Western ierntories, because it was ex- 

cluded by a law superior to legislative enactment: 
"I mean the law of Nature, of physical geography, the law of 
the formation of the earth". He declared that anti-slavery agi- 



346 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



Calhoun's 
position. 



tation was useless and dangerous, and he even censured the 
North for harboring runaway slaves. It was believed by many 
that he spoke these words in hope of securing the presidency. 
If he did, he was sadly mistaken, for, from that time, although 
Northern confidence seemed temporarily to be given him again, 
his great power of leadership was gone. 

Calhoun was at the point of death and unable to deliver the 
speech he had prepared. It was therefore read for him. If one 
wishes to know the feeling of the South that finally 
led to secession and civil war, one should study 
this speech. To Calhoun the nation seemed clearly 
divided into two distinct sections; if the Northern one insisted 

on overturning the balance be- 
tween the two, the interests of the 
South would be endangered and 
slavery would not be safe; the only 
way in which the Union could be 
preserved was by carefully main- 
taining this balance and by the 
complete recognition of sectional 
differences and interests. To the 
Western Territories the Southern- 
er must be allowed to go with his 
slaves as freely as the Northern, 
man with his cattle; slavery must 
not be discriminated against, but 
protected by the power of the Na- 
tional Government. 

Seward made the greatest 
speech of these debates, because 
he fully represented the best Northern sentiment concerning 
slavery ; because he represented the sentiment that 
was to become the dominant power in the nation. 
He declared that slavery must go no further. He 
warned the South that every effort to extend slavery or to fasten 
its hold upon the country would only hasten the day of emanci- 
pation, because this land must be free, and the forces of economy, 




^'CL^ /HL.....^, 



Seward's 
speech. 



MEXICAN WAR ; SLAVE TERRITORY 347 

the forces of civilization, were fighting the battles of freedom. 
"The question of dissolving the Union is a complex question: it 
embraces the fearful issue whether the Union shall stand, and 
slavery, under the steady, peaceful action of moral, social, and 
political causes, be removed by gradual voluntary effort and 
with compensation; or whether the Union shall be dissolved and 
civil war ensue, bringing on violent but complete and immediate 
emancipation".^ How much misery and woe might have been 
avoided had the South listened to Seward's warning in 1850! 

Not till September were all parts of the compromise passed. 
It agreed substantially with Clay's scheme, (i) The boundary 

between Texas and New Mexico was established, 
rnaVer"'""''' ^nd Tcxas was paid ten million dollars for giving 

up her claims. (2) California was admitted as a 
free State. (3) New Mexico and Utah were given Territorial 
governments without restriction as to slavery. (4) A law was 
passed to provide for the arrest and return of fugitive slaves. 
(5) The slave trade in the District of Columbia was abolished. 
On the whole, it was received favorably by both sections of the 
country. The people were relieved from the high excitement 
under which they had been living for two or three years. An- 
other crisis seemed passed in safety, and men breathed more 
freely. 

The part of this compromise that was most disliked by the 
North, and that eventually caused greatest trouble, was the 

fugitive slave law. This was a very severe meas- 
Jiave^"fw ^^ ure. A negro claimed as a runaway slave had no 

right to a trial by jury, could give no evidence in 
his own behalf, and had little or no chance of being released. 
The trial might be before a commissioner instead of a court, and 
it was the commissioner's duty to hear and determine the case 

1 Seward at this time also said that "there is a higher law than the 
Constitution which regulates our authority", etc. For this "higher-law 
doctrine" he and his followers were bitterly attacked, on the ground that 
they sought to overthrow the Constitution for mere sentiment. But he 
spoke plain truth; the Constitution itself could not resist the moral forces 
of the nation. 



348 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

of a claimant in a summary manner. Whether the negro was a 
person or a thing was decided with less formality than in a suit 
at common law before the Federal courts where over twenty 
dollars were involved. The passage of this act was in many 
parts of the North keenly resented, but time was needed to dis- 
close all its awful meaning. In the course of the next few years 
Northern sentiment against slavery was aroused to a new pitch 
by efforts to enforce the law, for it brought home before the very 
eyes of the people some of the most odious aspects of slavery; 
it helped to intensify hatred of the whole barbarous system 
and to bring about a nearer approach to unity of thought and 
feeling. Throughout the North were many colored people, 
who had either escaped from service in years gone by or been 
born in freedom; they could now be seized on the mere presenta- 
tion of an affidavit made by an alleged owner, and they might be 
dragged away into bondage after a hasty trial. Riots and res- 
cues became not infrequent, and some of them aroused the in- 
terest of the whole country. This part of the compromise, 
therefore, did not allay ill feeling, but in the end made it more 
intense and bitter. 

While the compromise was under discussion President Tay- 
lor died (July 9, 1850). His death brought deep sorrow to the 
nation. The people of the North paid the tribute 
Taylor. ^^ mourning to the honest soldier, who seemed to 

have forgotten sectional prejudices in his love of 
country. "I never saw", wrote Seward, "public grief so uni- 
versal and so profound". 

Mr. Fillmore immediately assumed the presidency. It has 
always been the practice to nominate men for the Vice-presi- 
dency without first considering whether they are 
FiUmore. ^^ ^°^ ^^^ presidency; and so it was in the case 

of Fillmore. He was by no means a great man, 
nor was he widely experienced in public affairs; but the full 
responsibility of office was now thrust upon him. His cast 
of mind led him to be on the whole conservative and careful. 
His past showed that he had anti-slavery convictions, but he 
threw his influence in favor of the compromise while it was under 



MEXICAN WAR; SLAVE TERRITORY 349 

discussion, and endeavored to see it fully carried out after it was 
passed. The Cabinet was reorganized. Webster became Sec- 
retary of State, and to a great extent directed the policy of the 
administration. 

References 

Wilson, Division and Reunion, pp. 150-172; BrRGESS, Middle 
Period, Chapters XVI, XVII; A. C. McLaughlin, Lewis Cass, 
Chapters VIII, IX; von Holst, Calhoun, pp. 274-351; Lodge, 
Daniel Webster, Chapter IX; Schurz, Henry Clay, Chapters XXV, 
XXVI; LoTHROP, William H. Seward, Chapters IV, V; Rhodes, 
History of the United States, Volume I, Chapter II. Longer ac- 
counts: McMaster, Volume VII, pp. 439-614; Schouler, Volume 
IV, pp. 525-549; Volume V, pp. 1-187; Garrison, Westward Exten- 
sion, Chapters XV-XX. 



CHAPTER XIX 



Growth in 
population 



THE PRINCIPLE OF POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY; THE 
FORMATION OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY 

In the midst of all the excitement on the slavery question 
the country had been growing in wealth, in strength, and in 
population. In 1840 the census showed about 
seventeen million people. In 1850 there were 
twenty-three million. This increase was due in 
large part to the great influx of 
European immigrants, who in 
this decade came to America in 
large numbers. The Irish and 
Germans were especially num- 
erous. Of the former nearly 
one hundred and sixty thou- 
sand came in a single year. 
After the great popular upris- 
ings in Europe in 1848 — upris- 
ings in behalf of greater political 
freedom — thousands moved to 
America either to escape pun- 
ishment, or, despairing of 
brighter days at home, to seek 
prosperity in a land whose in- 
stitutions seemed reasonable 
and just. All of these new- 
Chart Showing Increase of comers found homes either in 
Immigration by Decades ^^^ Northern cities or on the 

farms of the new Northwest. To the South they would not 
go, because they came to work, while beyond Mason and 
Dixon's line work was left to slaves and labor was considered 
degrading. They came, too, without local or sectional preju- 
dices, and thus added to the nationalizing forces and stimulated 
the national spirit. 

350 



1821-1830 
1831-1840 
1841-1850 

,1851-186-0 

> 

> 








1 


3,500,000 
2,000,000 
1,500,000 
1,000,000 
500,000 






/ 




) 


/ 




/ 




/ 


/ 




^ 













POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY; THE REPUBLICAN PARTY 351 

In this decade of political excitement the inventive spirit of 
America had not slumbered. Among the most important in- 
ventions was the rotary printing press, bv which 

Inventions. ^ . . , or-;./ 

the process of prmtmg became amazmgly rapid. 
The result was the cheapening of books and newspapers and con- 
sequent widening of educational opportunities. The sewing 
machine, too, was invented, and the result of this invention was 
not simply to lessen the drudgery of the household, but to re- 
duce the work on all articles of clothing, and thus to make them 
cheaper and more attainable by the poor. About this same 
time a patent was secured for the manufacture of rubber goods. 
The value of the discovery was so great that this industry as- 
sumed large proportions at once. In 1850 over three million 
dollars' worth of rubber goods were made in the United States. 
In trade and commerce the United States was now one of the 
first nations of the world. "I can never think of America", 
wrote Leigh Hunt at one time, "without seeing a gigantic 
counter stretched all along the seaboard ". 

The shipping interests had recently developed greatly. 
Steam vessels were taking the place of the old sailing vessels on 

the ocean, as they had already supplanted the flat- 
intere'sts. boats on the rivers. Steamships now made the 

passage across the Atlantic in about ten days. 
The wealth of the nation was increasing rapidly in spite of the 
forebodings of those who feared slavery and its blighting influence. 
Men looked hopefully forward to an immense material develop- 
ment. In this they were not mistaken. The decade from 1850 
to i860 was one of progress. Before its end America had act- 
ually outstripped England in the tonnage of its merchant marine. 
The compromise of 1850 was quite generally acquiesced in. 
Some men continued to denounce it, but the first two or three 

years after its passage were years of comparative 
Acquiescence quiet, and the members of both the old parties 
comp^romise. ^^^^ '^^^^ ^^^^ Other in declaring their attachment 

to it. Occasionally the fugitive slave law was openly 
violated, or men gave utterance to their feelings in ringing de- 
nunciations; but on the whole it seemed to the majority that it 



352 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

was now only necessary to decry "agitation" and to assert un- 
wavering obedience and respect for the great compromises. 

In the spring of 1852 Mrs. Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin was 
pubUshed, a simple, moving story of slavery. The book holds 
a high place in our literature, not because its lan- 
Uncie Tom's guagc is especially artistic, but because it pictures 
a situation with power and is the frank utterance 
of impassioned belief. But it is more than a piece of literature 
in the ordinary sense; it is a great political pamphlet. The sales 
of the book were enormous.^ In Europe and America hundreds 
of thousands of copies were sold. Its effect in awakening anti- 
slavery feeling was great. Rufus Choate is reported to have 
said, "That book will make two millions of Abolitionists"; and 
Garrison wrote to Mrs. Stowe, "All the defenders of slavery 
have left me alone and are abusing you". 

The Democratic party nominated Franklin Pierce, of New 
Hampshire, and William R. King, of Alabama, as their candi- 
dates. The Whigs nominated General Winfield 
185V ^'^ **"^ ° Scott, of Virginia, and William A. Graham, of 
North Carolina. Both parties favored the com- 
promise, and declared that it was a final settlement of the slavery 
question. The free-soilers nominated John P. Hale, of New 
Hampshire, and George W. Julian, of Indiana. They wittily 
characterized the old parties as the "Whig and Democratic 
Wings of the Great Compromise Party of the Nation". Their 
principles were set forth in the phrase, "Free soil, free speech, 
free labor, and free men". The election resulted in a victory 
for the Democrats so complete that the Whigs were over- 
whelmed. Scott carried only four States and received only 
forty-two electoral votes. Though his party had humbled 
itself and bowed down before the compromise, and refused 



^ The picture of slavery given in the book is only partly true; it doubt- 
less presented only the most obnoxious features of the system; but whether 
it was true in all respects or not is not the historical fact of chief signifi- 
cance; the fact is that the book was of great influence in getting people 
to think and to oppose slavery. Many a novel since then has aided peo- 
ple to see a situation. 



POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY; THE REPUBLICAN PARTY 35a 

to yield to its own better impulses, it could not win the: 
Southern vote.^ 

This was the end of the Whig party. Four years later a few 
men still clung to the name and tried to believe their party was. 

not gone, but to no avail. It was said to have: 
condiHons!'^ "died of an attempt to swallow the fugitive law". 

Before the next election, as we shall see, the slavery 
question assumed new forms and took on enormous proportions. 
The Whig party had to be dissolved that a new party might 
take its place, ready to act upon principle in opposition to slav- 
ery extension. Moreover the old stalwart leaders that had con- 
trolled Whig counsels for a generation were now passed away. 
Webster and Clay died in 1852, and the Northern men who. 
could have taken their places were opponents of slavery. In- 
deed, we now find new men, and a fair field for new forces. 
Salmon P. Chase, Seward, and Charles Sumner became the 
giants of the arena, and they were unrelenting foes of slavery. 
The South, too, had men thoroughly devoted to its peculiar in- 
terests, its most able and fearless champion, after the death of 
Calhoun, being Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi. Though men 
might blind their eyes to it, the contest was narrowing down to 
a contest between the North and the South. The bright, able 
young men of the North, the men of the next twenty years of 
action, were prepared to cast away old party ties and vote for 
principle, while the South would support none but men fully 
devoted to its interests. - 



^ The new President was not a great statesman. He had been a con- 
sistent Democrat, but no one could foresee what his career as President 
would be. Indeed, he had been nominated by the Democrats partly be- 
cause they desired a colorless candidate. He was a man of some ability, a 
good lawyer, and a fine speaker. He had both civil and military experience, 
having been in the House and the Senate, and having served as a brigadier- 
general in the Mexican War. The Vice-President, King, never assumed 
the duties of ofl6ce. He died about a month after the inauguration. Pierce 
made William L. Marcy Secretary of State and Jefferson Davis Secretary 
of War. 

^ We saw, when considering the party condition in 1811-12, that new- 
young men were coming in. For forty years Clay, Calhoun, and Webster 
were the towering figures. They all defended the Union; even Calhoun,. 
24 



354 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

Southern ambition was fired in these days with the hope of 
winning new territory in the regions of the South. Cuba and 

Central America, both suitable for slavery, were 
Expansion of alluringly near, and both might be acquired by a 
territory. little effort. How widely hopes of conquests in 

that direction were entertained at the South one 
cannot say. Certain it is that many hoped to gain strength for 
slavery by the acquisition of new territory. But zeal for the 
annexation of Cuba was not confined to Southern politicians. 
There was prevalent at the time a bold belief in the doctrine of 
"manifest destiny", a belief that we as a nation were called 
upon to extend the sphere of our wholesome influence, to gather 
in new lands that we might do our great duty in elevating man. 
This sentiment is well expressed in the words of Edward 
Everett, who during the last few months of Fillmore's admin- 
istration was Secretary of State: "Every addition to the 
territory of the American Union has given homes to European 
destitution and gardens to European want". 

Marcy himself seems to have been anxious for the annexa- 
tion of Cuba. In 1854, at his suggestion, the American ministers 

to England, France, and Spain — James Buchanan, 
manifesto'* Johu Y. Mason, Pierre Soule — met and consulted 

upon the prospects of acquiring this island. They 
drew up a paper which has since borne the name of the "Ostend 
manifesto", from the place where the first consultations were 
held. This is a remarkable document. It declared that the 
"Union can never enjoy repose nor possess reliable security as 
long as Cuba is not embraced within its boundaries". It sug- 
gested, m hardly mistakable language, that the United States 
would be justified in seizing the coveted spot if Spain refused to 

while asserting Southern rights, declared the Union could be preserved 
only by guarding those rights; he sought to build and secure State and 
sectional rights, but he asserted and probably believed that only thus could 
the Union be saved. The Northern men, who were for forging to the 
front from now on, were Union men also; but, more and more, opposition to 
slavery and what they considered Southern domination influenced their 
thoughts and actions — ^Lincoln, Seward, Sumner, Chase. 



POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY; THE REPUBLICAN PARTY 355 

sell it. "We should be recreant to our duty, be unworthy of our 
gallant forefathers, and commit base treason against our pos- 
terity, should we permit Cuba to be Africanized and become a 
second San Domingo, with all its attendant horrors to the white 
race, and suffer the flames to extend to our own neighboring 
shores, seriously to endanger or actually to consume the fair 
fabric of our Union". The Government did not directly sanc- 
tion this extraordinary paper. Marcy directly disapproved of 
it; but when it was published it startled the world. Men at the 
North wondered if our nation was in such a plight that three of 
our foreign diplomats dared openly proclaim that we must seize 
an island, lest its inhabitants become free. 

The Democrats, highly successful in the campaign of 1852, 
took office the next year with elation and confidence. They had 
proclaimed loudly the sanctity of the compromise, 
qursdon^Igain. ^^^ ^^^ hoped and believed that the dreadful 
slavery issue was a thing of the past. But hardly 
had the new Congress assumed its duties when the storm burst 
again with renewed fury. It was proposed to form a new Terri- 
tory in the land west of Iowa and Missouri, part of the Louisiana 
purchase. From all of this country north of 36° 30' slavery was 
excluded by the express terms of the Missouri compromise. The 
minds of the Northern people had long rested in calm assurance 
that this portion of the national domain was destined for free- 
dom. It was protected by a law of over thirty years' standing, 
and both of the great parties had avowed their faith and alle- 
giance to it. 

In January, 1854, the Senate began the consideration of a 
measure for organizing a Territory in this region. Senator 
Dixon, of Kentucky, who was filling the unexpired 
NebrfskTact. ^^^^ ^^ Henry Clay, offered an amendment re- 
pealing so much of the Missouri compromise as 
restricted the extension of slavery. A few days later Senator 
Stephen A. Douglas, from Illinois, brought in a new bill pro- 
viding for two Territories, Kansas and Nebraska, and for the 
repeal of the slavery restriction of the famous compromise on 
the ground that it was "superseded by the principles of the 



356 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

legislation of 1850". The policy of "non-intervention", which 
was said to be the basis of the act of 1850, was now to be adopted 
as a principle in the organization of the new Territories. It was 
declared that the intention of the act was "not to legislate slav- 
ery into any Territory or State, nor exclude it therefrom; but to 
leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate 
their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the 
Constitution of the United States". 

The bill was debated long and bitterly. Chase, Seward, and 
Sumner made great speeches, attacking slavery and charging 
^^ ^ ^ , the South with breach of faith. Douglas defended 

The debate. -it- ,,•„?• 

the measure with his usual skill and vigor. His 
language was not elegant and his manner was coarse, but 
he spoke with such vehemence, with such consummate shrewd- 
ness and adroitness, that he was one of the greatest debaters 
that ever spoke in Congress. He declared that the com- 
promise of 1850 contained a principle; that the principle 
was wise and constitutionally sound; that in order to quiet the 
slavery agitation forever this principle should be applied to all 
of the Territories.^ 

It is by no means clear that the "non-intervention" policy 
of 1850 was the same as the doctrine of "popular sovereignty", 

nor was it made absolutely evident that under this 
bm mean?*''^ Kansas-Nebraska act, purporting to be based on 

the principle of 1850, the people of the Territories 
themselves could, after organization, either admit or exclude 
slavery as they chose. But Cass and Douglas, and other 
Northern Democrats who voted for the bill, seem to have be- 
lieved that it recognized "popular sovereignty"; and, if it did, 
then the people of the new Territories could settle the matter 



iThe compromise of 1850 had provided for the organization of Terri- 
tories in the land acquired from Mexico; the compromise avoided any 
distinct statement concerning the legality of slavery in the Territories; it 
did not cover the Louisiana purchase, where the slavery question was 
"settled" by the Missouri compromise. Douglas now claimed that the 
compromise of 1850 did establish a principle and he proposed to carry it 
over into the land covered by the Missouri compromise. 



POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY; THE REPUBLICAN PARTY 357 



for themselves. The Southern people later denied that either 
the compromise of 1850 or the Kansas-Nebraska bill meant any- 
thing but this — that they should be allowed to go into the 
Territories with their slaves without '^ intervention^^ from any- 
body, either from the Territory or the National Government. 

The bill was passed by Congress in May, 1854. The people 
of the North were roused to intense excitement during the wholf 
period of this discussion. As long as slavery was 
more or less limited by the compromise restriction 
and there existed a sort of balance between the 



Effect of the 
biU. 




sections, which men persuaded themselves was the natural and 
constitutional condition, there was something like quiet and com- 
posure; but now, as they saw these old restrictions cast aside 
and the prairies of the great West opened to slave labor on an 



358 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

equal footing with free, there was deep indignation in the 
hearts of many who had hitherto belonged to the con- 
servative classes and had deprecated agitation and excite- 
ment. Congressmen who voted for the measure had difficulty 
in justifying themselves before their constituents. Douglas 
was for the time being bitterly denounced. "I could then 
travel", he said at a later day, "from Boston to Chicago 
by the light of my own effigies". Some ardent foes of slavery 
were indeed elated; they felt that now the real contest 
was begun; they felt, too, that the bad faith of the slave- 
holders was so clearly shown that no further compromise 
of principle was possible. "This seems to me", exclaimed 
Seward, "auspicious of better days and better and wiser legisla- 
tion. Through all the darkness and gloom of the present hour 
bright stars are breaking, that inspire me with hope and excite 
me to perseverance". 

The time was ripe for the formation of a party outspoken 
in its opposition to the extension of slavery into the Territories. 

Early in the winter, when Douglas introduced his 
party ^^" "'^^ ^^^^' ^^ address, signed by Chase, Sumner, and other 

anti-slavery leaders, was published in the news- 
papers, denouncing the Kansas-Nebraska bill as "a gross vio- 
lation of a sacred pledge, as a criminal betrayal of precious rights, 
as part and parcel of an atrocious plot to exclude from a vast 
region immigrants from the Old World and free laborers from 
our own States, and convert it into a dreary region of despotism 
inhabited by masters and slaves". These words expressed the 
sentiment of many Northern people. The Free-soilers were 
still in existence, but the party had never been a popular one. 
All the anti-slavery elements were now fused into a new party. 
The movement was felt everywhere in the North, but the first 
active steps toward organization were taken in the Northwest, 
where the people were not bound by commercial ties to the 
South, and where, less conservative by nature than the men of 
the East, they were readier to cast aside old party bonds and take 
on new ones. In Michigan a State convention was called of 
those, "without reference to former political associations, who 



POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY; THE REPUBLICAN PARTY 359 

think the time has arrived for union at the North to protect 
Uberty from being overthrown and downtrodden". This con- 
, , ^ „ vention nominated a full State ticket, and chris- 

Jiily 6, 1854. ' 

tened the new party "Republican". Like action 
was taken in several other States, but the new name was not 
adopted in all of them. The principles of the party were un- 
mistakable; its chief aim was "resistance to the encroachment 
of slavery". 

The elements that were brought into the new party were 
various. It absorbed all the Free-soilers, many of whom had 

been Democrats; it took in also a great number of 
and^success! ^^^ Whigs — thosc who, realizing that their party 

had nothing left to it but a name and a remem- 
brance, were ready to cooperate boldly against slavery. The 
so-called anti-Nebraska Democrats also joined the Republicans. 
Thus the party was a composite one, but it was guided by a very 
definite purpose. Its tendencies were toward a broad and liberal 
construction of the Constitution, and opposition to the doctrine 
of State sovereignty. The success of the movement was sur- 
prising. In the fall election of 1854 the opponents of "Ne- 
braska" carried every State of the old Northwest, and their 
success in the East was not slight. 

About this time still another party arose, and for a time as- 
sumed large proportions. This was the "Native-American" 

or " Know-Nothing " party. It was a secret or- 
Know-Nothin s ganizatiou, devoted primarily to the exclusion of 

foreign-born citizens, and especially Roman Cath- 
olics, from the suffrage, or at least from pubUc office. It took 
its popular name from the fart that, if any of its members were 
questioned concerning its object and methods, their answer was 
"I don't know ".^ The great influx of immigrants had startled 

^ It is said that its members had some silly practices such as this: If 
you wanted to get into a lodge you must rap at the door several times, and 
when the sentinel peeps through the wicket you must say "What meets 
here, to-night"? He will then answer "I don't know" and you must say 
"I am one". At the second door you must rap four times and give the 
password "Thirteen". When out in the world when a brother gives you 



360 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

many people. They believed that the presence of so many 
foreigners was a menace to our institutions. Some men were 
persuaded that the Roman Catholic Church was secretly plot- 
ting for political influence. The watchword of the new party 
was "America for Americans". Probably its members were 
honestly deluded by the belief that it had a duty to perform ; but 
it can hardly be doubted that many joined the organization 
because they longed for another issue than the dreadful slavery 
question. For a year or two the new party was so strong that 
it ran a not imeven race with the Republicans. But after 1856 
its power dwindled rapidly. It could have no lasting vigor. Its 
secret methods were out oi place in a free country, where, as it 
was well said, "every man ought to have his principles written 
on his forehead". 

The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill had other conse- 
quences than the formation of the Republican party. ^ Popular 
sovereignty, reduced to its lowest terms, meant 
Popular ^^^ ^j^jg. ^ contest of strength between North and 

sovereignty in 

practice. South, between slavery and freedom. That sec- 

tion must win that had the greater vigor. If the 
North could pour more men into the Territories than the South 
could, their destiny was secure. Both sections now prepared for 
the struggle. Emigrants from the Southern States made their way 
into Kansas, and the people of the neighboring State of Missouri 
were ready to move across the border, if only temporarily, in 
order to carry an election. From the North, too, came men by 

the grip you must ask "Where did you get that"? He will answer, "I don't 
know", you must reply "I don't know either". All this sounds like the 
fanciful contrivances of children! No wonder that Greeley declared that 
the party had no more elements of permanence than an anti-potato rot 
party would have. 

^ One should notice through these years some of the more striking 
eflforts to rescue slaves taken at the North under the fugitive slave law. 
Read in the Atlantic Monthly, March, 1897, the thrilling account given by 
Mr. Higginson of the attempt to rescue Burns. The situation was dramatic. 
A descendant of the first minister of Massachusetts Bay and a negro, side 
by side, battered with a beam the door behind which the fugitive slave was 
imprisoned. When such a scene could be enacted, open conflict could not 
be long postponed. 



POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY; THE REPUBLICAN PARTY 361 

the thousand, many of them to seek new homes, many of them 
in search of excitement or bent on holding Kansas against the 
in-rushing tide of slavery. In this great contest the free States 
had the advantage. Their population was now considerably 
larger than that of the slave States, and was yearly increased by 
immigrants from Europe. Moreover, the Southern slave owner 
could not at a moment's warning abandon his plantation and 
transport his band of retainers to the West; and, even if he 
wished to do so, he hesitated to move to a Territory where there 
was a chance of losing his property in his slaves. But, above all, 
the North was now in every way the more powerful section. In 
this struggle for Kansas the greater conflict between the two 
sections that was to arise within a few years was fairly shown 
forth. The South was defeated because it was weak; because 
its ruling institution did not endow it with actual vigor; because 
it could not maintain itself against the superior wealth and power 
of the free States. 

At first the pro-slavery element was successful in Kansas. In 
the autumn of -1854 they elected a delegate to Congress, and the 
next spring elected a Legislature favorable to slav- 
in Kansas ^ ^^- ^^^ free-State men charged that the elec- 
tion was carried by fraud and intimidation; that 
residents of Missouri had swarmed over the border only to vote, 
returning at once to their own State. The Legislature thus 
elected took steps to make Kansas a slave Territory, and passed 
a severe code of law's for the protection of slavery. This gov- 
ernment was not recognized as legitimate by its opponents, and 
the Northern men proceeded to ignore it. They met in conven- 
tion at Topeka and formed a State Constitution, under which 
they sought admittance to the Union. They even elected offl- 
cers under this instrument. There were thus two authorities in 
the Territory, one a proslavery government, the other an anti- 
slavery government pretending to have power under a State 
Constitution. The National Government refused to recognize 
this Constitution or the officers acting under it, and the Presi- 
dent ordered the Federal troops to dismiss the Free-State Legis- 
lature when it assembled. 



362 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

For about two years the history of Kansas was a history of 
violence and disorder. Civil war broke out. Men were shot; 
towns were sacked. The whole Territory was in 
Ka^nsas^ ^ State of anarchy. Robbery and deeds of bru- 

tality were constant. "Which faction surpassed 
the other in violence it would be hard to say ".^ Men from the 
North and men from the South seemed to lose all sense of their 
common humanity. It was estimated that from November i, 
1855, to December i, 1856, about two hundred persons were 
killed, and property worth not less than two million dollars 
destroyed in the Territory. "Bleeding Kansas" became a 
watchword at the North; and indeed this awful condi- 
tion was a sad commentary on the policy of "popular 
sovereignty". 

The Kansas question was of course hotly discussed in Con- 
gress. In these trying times men forgot the decorum of debate 
and talked with savage earnestness. In May, 
Sumner."''°° ^856, Charles Sumner made his great speech on 
the Crime against Kansas. He was a powerful 
and polished orator; and now his soul was lifted up within him, 
for he hated slavery with a deadly hatred. His speech was a 
furious attack upon the slaveholders, and was, beyond question, 
needlessly sharp and severe.^ He spoke with special sever- 
ity of Senator Butler, of South Carolina. Preston S. Brooks, 
a representative from that State and a kinsman of the Sen- 
ator, determined to take revenge. A day or two later, after 
the Senate had adjourned. Brooks entered the Senate Chamber 
and found Sumner busy at his desk, his head bent low over his 
work. He made the most of his opportunity, striking Sumner 
over the head with a walking stick and so seriously injuring him 
that he did not fully recover for a number of years. The House 

1 This quotation ife from Spring's Kansas, a very interesting book. 
Chapters VI-X give a vivid picture of the horrors of the time. 

2 It is not meant that the attack on slavery was too severe, but the 
attack on the slaveholders was. The great Lincoln always spoke of the 
Southern man with compassion, while he spoke of slavery with loathing 
and sorrow. 



POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY; THE REPUBLICAN PARTY 363 




Cfx^^vN-j^j^ yu/h.,yisf_ 



did not expel Brooks because the needed two-thirds vote could 
not be secured. Brooks, however, resigned his seat, and was 
reelected at once almost unani- 
mously. The North was mightily 
stirred by this attack. Even 
those who did not sympathize 
with Sumner were indignant at 
the brutality of the assault. 
Perhaps nothing that occurred 
before the outbreak of the war 
did more to estrange the two 
sections and to fill the hearts of 
men with bitterness. The North 
felt that the South was given 
over to ruffianism. The South, 
on the other hand, believed 
that all Northern men were Abo- 
litionists plotting violently to 
overthrow slavery; many seemed to believe that Sumner had 
received his just deserts. 

The campaign of 1856 was begun soon after these exciting 
events. There were three parties in the field. The Democrats 
nominated James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, and 
John C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky. Their plat- 
form approved of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill and 
the principle of popular sovereignty. It disapproved of "all 
sectional parties . . . whose avowed purpose, if consummated, 
must end in civil war and disunion". The Republicans were 
organized as a national party in the winter of 1856, and in the 
early summer candidates were chosen. John C. Fremont, of 
California, was nominated for President, and William L. Day- 
ton, of New Jersey, for Vice-President. Resolutions were 
passed declaring that Congress had sovereign power over the 
Territories and should use it to prohibit slavery there, and that 
Kansas should be admitted at once under the Free-State Con- 
stitution. The Know-Nothings put forward as candidates 
Millard Fillmore and Andrew J. Donelson, of Tennessee. The 



The election 
of 1856. 



364 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



campaign was carried on through the summer with great ear- 
nestness and v/ith extraordinary show of feeling. Buchanan was 
elected, but not by a large electoral majority. The popular vote 
of the Democrats was less than that of the Republican and 







^^°H TPft^ '^N 'NEBRASKA 

~--. ', TERRITORY 

"^ERR/TOR V ;>■ 

,-J KAN. TER. 



THE ECECaaCOH 
OF 18'56 

yRepubl] 
Detnocratic 
^^M American Harty 




American parties combined. The Republicans polled 1,341,264 
votes, about five times as many as the Free-soilers had ever cast. 
It was evident that opposition to slavery had assumed a ne— 
and formidable shape. 

References 

Hart, Contemporaries, Volume IV, pp. 100-121; Wilson, 
Division and Reunion, pp. 178-193; Burgess, Middle Period, 
Chapters XVIII-XX; McLaughlin, Lewis Cass, Chapter X; 
LoTHROP, Seward, Chapters VI-IX; Hart, Salmon P. Chase, 
Chapters V, VI; Storey, Charles Sumner, Chapters VI -VIII. 
Longer accounts: Schouler, Volume V, pp. 213-367; Smith, Parties 
and Slavery, Chapters I-XII; Rhode:^, Volume I, Chapters III, V; 
Volume II, Chapters VI-VIIL 



[ 



CHAPTER XX 
THE COMING OF THE CRISIS 

The struggle in Kansas, the growing feeling of resentment 
at the North, the bitterness with which men spoke of the 
attack upon Sumner, the determination of the South to see 
slavery planted in the West, South- 
ern hatred of the "Black Repub- 
licans", all indicated that war 
between the sections might not be 
long delayed. But when Buchanan 
took the presidential chair in 1857 
he hoped he could bring in good 
feeling.^ He announced privately 
after his election that the great 
object of his administration would 
be to "arrest, if possible, the agi- 
tation of the slavery question at 
the North, and to destroy sec- 
tional parties". Such a task 
proved too great for human 
power. 

Almost immediately after the 




1 James Buchanan had held a number of important positions before he 
became President. He had been a member of both houses of Congress, 
Secretary of State and minister to England. He had performed all his 
public duties acceptably, but had never shown remarkable brilliancy or 
talent. He had long been a leader in the party, but was not so able as some 
of its more positive members. 

The chief positions in his cabinet were given to Lewis Cass of Michigan, 
Secretary of State; Howell Cobb, of Georgia, Secretary of the Treasury; 
John B. Floyd, of Virginia, Secretary of War; Jeremiah S. Black, of 
Pennsylvania, Attorney-General. 

365 



366 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

inauguration the Supreme Court gave a decision in an im- 
portant case. Several years before, Dred Scott, a negro slave, 
had been taken by his master into a free State, 
c„-!** ^/cl.. and also into a part of the national domain where 

Scott case". ^ 

slavery was forbidden by the terms of the 
Missouri compromise. He had then been taken back to 
Missouri, and after a time was sold. Scott brought suit 
against his master for assault and battery, claiming that by 
going into free territory he had become a free man. The 
suit was taken from the lower courts to the highest Federal 
tribunal. The Supreme Court denied that Scott had become 
a free man, asserted that persons of African descent could not 
become citizens and thus obtain the right to sue in the Federal 
courts, and declared that the Missouri compromise was uncon- 
stitutional, inasmuch as Congress had no authority to exclude 
slavery from the Territories. The decision of the court was not 
unanimous; two of the nine judges strongly disagreed with it, 
and two others did not acquiesce in all its parts. We may notice 
that, if Scott, being a negro, could not as a citizen sue in the 
courts, the court should have dismissed the case for want of 
jurisdiction, without proceeding to give a long opinion on all 
the merits and difficulties of the controversy. The judges 
doubtless thought that a legal decision would have some effect 
in bringing peace to the country. 

The decision seemed at first to be a great victory for slavery 
and to strike a heavy blow at the Republicans. The funda- 
mental Republican principle was that Congress 
The attitude of ^ould and must exclude slavery from national ter- 
toward the case, ritory. If the decisiou of the court were to stand 
as good law, the Republicans must give up their 
fight for congressional action. If they ignored it, they posed be- 
fore the country as advocating disobedience to the decision of the 
highest court in the land. The situation was a trying one. It 
was too late, however, for an "opinion" to settle the slavery 
question. The RepubHcan party continued to work against the 
extension of slavery; they attacked the decision on the ground 
that it was not a judicial opinion, declaring that the court had 



THE COMING OF THE CRISIS 367 

gone out of its way to issue a political manifesto. In the long 
run the decision helped the anti-slavery cause, for it brought 
home to men the need of resolute action. 

Especially after the repeal of the Missouri Compromise 
northern opponents of slavery ignored or attacked the fugitive 

slave law. Some of the States already had "per- 
libenytaws. ^^^^^^ liberty laws", the purpose of which was to 

prevent free negroes from being carried into slav- 
ery on the plea that they were runaways, and to put difficulties 
in the way of enforcing the fugitive slave law. Moreover, a great 

system known as the "underground railroad" had 
^der round S^own Up. Its objcct was to aid escaped slaves 
railroad. to pass safcly through the Northern States on 

their way to freedom in Canada. There were many 
routes, the majority leading across Indiana or Ohio to Lake 
Erie or the Detroit River. The fugitives were secretly sheltered 
in the homes of sympathetic persons and smuggled on from one 
"station" to another as opportunity offered. Many stood 
ready to give a helping hand to the hunted black man and to 
carry him a little way on his perilous journey. It is difficult to 
tell how many were thus enabled to make a good escape, per- 
haps not more than two thousand a year; but the people of the 
South were angered by the fact that their slaves eluded them, 
because Northern men winked at breaches of the law or openly 
sympathized with the fugitives.^ 

The whole North was held responsible for the doings and 
words of the Abolitionists, yet it needs to be repeated here that 



^ The importance of all this is that it indicated a strong sentiment among 
many of the Northern people and any attempt at a rescue called attention 
to slavery. Even men with no great sympathy for the anti-slavery cause 
in general would not disclose a negro's hiding-place or would even give 
him a helping hand. "When I was a marshal", said a man once 
a Federal marshal under a Democratic administration, "and they tried to 
make me find their slaves, I would say, 'I do not know where your niggers 
are, but I will see if I can find them out'. So I always went to Garrison's 
office and said, ' I want you to find such and such a negro ; tell me where he 
is'. The next thing I knew the fellow would be in Canada". See Rhodes, 
11- 75- 



368 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

the North was by no means united on the subject of slavery. 

After the Dred Scott case and the trials of Kansas, Northern 

men leaned more and more toward advanced 

The Northern anti-slavery sentiment; it must be remembered, 

sentiment re- ~ . . ... 

garding slavery, however, that Gamsonian Abolitionists were com- 
paratively few in numbers. They believed in 
"no union with slaveholders", thinking a dissolution of 
the Union better than a recognition of the crime of slav- 
ery. They did not vote or advocate political action. 
They believed that if emancipation were to take place it 
must come at once, because the nation was stained and 
polluted with sin. The Republicans, on the other hand, 
while opposed to the whole institution, believed in acting 
only as far as there was constitutional right to act; they believed 
in using political measures, and not simply in denouncing slav- 
ery as a crime. They made no pretense of trying to wipe out 
slavery within the States where it existed, but they were bent 
on keeping it closely within those limits. It must be noticed, 
too, that a large portion of the Northern people were not ready 
to go even thus far, still clinging fondly to the hope that the 
question would settle itself, and looking upon the Republican 
party as a sectional party whose aims were dangerous to the 
Union. In spite of these differences the Southerners, or many 
of them at least, believed that all Northern opponents of slavery 
were at heart desirous of overthrowing slavery even within the 
Southern States. 

By this time the weakness of slavery had been shown in the 
struggle for Kansas. Early in Buchanan's administration it 
became evident that the Free-State men must win 
Kansas." "^^^ ^^ ^^^ coutcst in that Territory. Their numbers 
were constantly increasing. " We are losing Kan- 
sas", said a Southern paper truly, "because we are lacking in 
population". In 1857 the Free-State men gave up the pretense 
that they had formed a legal State Government. They took 
part in the election of the Territorial Legislature, defeated the 
pro-slavery element at the polls, and elected a Legislature in 
favor of free soil. Before this body took office the old pro-slav- 



THE COMING OF THE CRISIS 369 

ery Legislature called a convention, which met at Lecompton 
and formed a State Constitution recognizing slavery. This in- 
strument was not fairly submitted to the people, 
Constitution.***'^ ^^^ -^^^V ^^^^ question as to whether or not there 
should be slavery as a permanent institution. The 
people were not allowed to vote against the Constitution, but 
must cast a ballot /or the instrument with slavery or for it with- 
out slavery. Moreover, if the popular verdict should be against 
slavery, the Constitution guaranteed slave property already in 
the Territory. Under these circumstances the anti-slavery men 
refused to vote, and the ballots of the pro-slavery men gave ap- 
parent popular sanction to the Constitution. Shortly after, 
the Free-State Legislature submitted the instrument again to 
popular vote and it was rejected. The question of the admis- 
sion of Kansas under the Lecompton Constitution was now dis- 
cussed in Congress. The Senate passed a bill for its admittance, 
but the measure could not pass the House. By this time 
(1858) Kansas was fairly in the power of the Free-State 
men; but it was impossible to get a bill through Congress 
admitting the Territory to Statehood with a Constitution 
forbidding slavery. 

In 1858 occurred the great debates between Lincoln and 
Douglas. They were rival candidates for election to the United 
States Senate from Illinois, and agreed to hold in 
The Lincoln- various parts of the State joint discussions upon 
debates. the important issues of the campaign. Douglas 

was the strongest and keenest debater in Congress, 
and the recognized leader of the Democratic party at the North. 
Lincoln was not much known beyond the limits of his own State. 
The whole nation watched the contest with interest, and the 
Republicans were surprised and delighted at the shrewdness 
with which Lincoln exposed the fallacies of his opponent, at the 
quiet humor which added a quaint flavor to his argument, and 
at the plentiful supply of common sense which enabled him to 
analyze the difficult problems of the time and to show their 
simplest meanings. He did not succeed in defeating Douglas, 
who was once again chosen to the Senate; but he clearly marked 
25 



370 HISTORY OB THE AMERICAN NATION 

out the course of his party: unflinching opposition to slavery, 
because slavery and freedom could not abide together; no inter- 
ference with slavery in the South, but steadfast opposition to 
its extension, lest freedom itself be overcome; a full appreciation 
that the only basis for peace was the gradual disappearance of 
the whole system. Seward was soon to declare that there was 
an "irrepressible conflict" between slavery and freedom, and 
now Lincoln said: "In my opinion it [agitation] will not cease 

until a crisis shall have been reached and passed, 
againsritseif. ^ ^ housc divided against itself cannot stand. I 

believe this Government cannot endure perma- 
nently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be 
dissolved, I do not expect the house to fall, but I do expect it 
will cease to be divided". 

In the decade between 1850 and i860 the United States was, 
on the whole, prosperous and progressive. In 1857 there was 
„ . , „ a financial crisis and a panic; but the country was, 

Panic of 1857. . . ^ . . -^ ' 

after a time, on its way to prosperity again. The 
census of i860 showed about thirty-one million people, a gain 
of about eight million in ten years. Immigrants continued to 

pour into our land. Inventions multiplied; there 
perity. Were nearly four thousand patents issued in the year 

i860 alone. Ocean commerce had grown, and our 
merchantmen carried the American flag to every sea. Americans 
were proud of the fact that they could now dispute "the navi- 
gation of the world with England", and that England could 
"no longer be styled mistress of the sea". Though our export 
trade was still largely in agricultural products, much capital 
was invested in manufacturing. The iron industry of Penn- 
sylvania had assumed large proportions, and the cotton and 
woolen industries of the Eastern States had grown greatly in 
recent years. In i860 the products of mechanical industry in 
the United States were worth almost two billion dollars. The 
railroad system, especially in the North and West, was being 
rapidly extended, and the East and West were being thoroughly 
bound together — an important factor in the military as well as 
the industrial strength of the Northern section. 






V-i 




~_Glei|beulab 
Pt'j mouth 


fe p Saginaw 3 : 


) r^ 


4^^^ 




/ 


/ 


_— — 


t/^J^-frj 


-/ 


lA 




B/ 


/ J- 


1 


■ 


r 


r 


H 


r 


f-vj 






-X 




lliniiiiiil 


Jan.l.lSeO 

Railroads completed 

during 1860 



The Growth of Railroads 
From F. L. Paxson's The Railroads of the Old Northwest before the Civil War 



372 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

The North had now passed far ahead of the South in popula- 
tion and in wealth. When the Constitution was adopted the 
two sections were not dissimilar in these partic- 
The North out- ^lars. According to the census of 1700, the in- 

strips the South ... r i o i r ti x i -r^- 

in population, habitants of the States north of Mason and Dixon s 
line were 1,968,040, and of those south of the line 
1,961,174. But in i860 the free States and Territories had a pop- 
ulation of 21,184,305, while the slave States had 10,259,016, of 
whom about one-third were slaves. This difference, yearly grow- 
ing more marked, was due in part to the fact that the European 
immigrant would not go and make his home in a section where 
labor was considered the duty only of bondmen. The struggle 
that had been maintained until 1850 to keep a balance of 
power in the Senate, by admitting slave and free States in pairs, 
had to be abandoned. Minnesota and Oregon were admitted to 
the Union in Buchanan's administration. 

But in wealth and material prosperity the free States had 
gained in even a greater degree. Slave labor is not fit for the 
factory or the workshop, where careful, conscientious mechan- 
ical skill is required. Partly because of this fact and partly be- 
cause cotton and tobacco were profitable crops which attracted 
people to agricultural life, there were few factories in the South- 
ern States. Almost everything had to be obtained from the North 
or Europe, in exchange for the great staples cotton and tobacco. 
In 1850 there were 1,260,442 persons engaged in manufacturing, 
in the arts, and in mining in the North; in the South there were 
326,000. The commonest necessities of life, with the exception 
of the food that could be raised on the plantation, were imported 
or brought from the North. There was one great crop — cotton 
— a crop so large that the South felt that the product made it 
rich and gave it power. But if the market for this staple were 
taken away, the people would be sure to find that they were al- 
most incapable of self-support for more than a limited period. 
Moreover, even in the field of work to which slavery had driven 
the South, in agriculture itself, methods were wasteful; the soil 
was not carefully or systematically tilled; it was, on the con- 
trary, systematically exhausted The results are clearly shown 



THE COMING OF THE CRISIS 373 

by the fact that Southern plantations were worth less than ten 
dollars an acre in i860, while Northern farms were worth about 
three times that amount.' 

Slavery was more expensive than freedom. At first it seems 
hardly possible that this can be true, but an examination of the 

facts will prove the statement. Benjamin Frank- 
penllve *syslem. ^^^ ^aw this a hundred years ago and more. "The 

labor of slaves", he says, "can never be so cheap 
here as the labor of the workingman in Great Britain. Any one 
-may compute it. Reckon, then, interest of the first purchase of 
a slave, the insurance or risk on his life, his clothing and diet, 
expenses in sickness and loss of time, loss by neglect of business 
(neglect which is natural to the man who is not to be benefited 
by his own care or diligence), expense of a driver to keep him at 
work, and his pilfering from time to time (almost every slave 
being, from the nature of slavery, a thief), and compare the 
whole amount with the wages of a manufacturer of iron or wool 
in England ; you will see that labor is much cheaper there than it 
ever can be by negroes here". A careful examination of two 
farms, one tilled by slaves and one by hired laborers, could prove 
to the inquirer that slave labor was extremely expensive.^ Only 

1 "The Southerners maintained that their wealth was due to their 
peculiar institution; that without slavery there could not be a hberal cot- 
ton supply. This assertion has been effectually disproved by the results 
since emancipation, while even in the decade before the war it could with 
good and sufficient reason be questioned . . . The demand for cotton and 
negroes went hand in hand; a high price of the staple made a high price for 
the human cattle . . . This kind of property was very high in the decade 
before the war, a good field hand being worth from one thousand to fifteen 
hundred dollars". Rhodes, History, I, 314-15. 

All this comparison between the North and the South may now seem 
profitless; but it helps us to see: (i) how an industrial regime may get its 
hold upon a people, and they cannot see the light; (2) how a false indus- 
trial, social order really weakened a great people; (3) how the North by 
virtue of superior strength crushed the South. 

2 It is true that fortunes were made, often quickly made, from cotton, 
but, in finding the value of any industrial and social system, you must take 
into account the prosperity of the workman, as well as the employer. 

If you add the many things that cannot be measured in dollars, it will 
be seen that the North was immeasurably stronger. In all the calculations 



374 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

men with large capital could afford to have slaves in any num- 
ber to carry on the work of the plantation, and the larger 
the number, the more profitable the system was likely to prove. 
Thus it was that the slaves were passing into the hands of a few 
persons. ^ 

Slavery and ignorant labor retarded Southern development. 
Slavery had deadened, too, the general intellectual activity of 

the people and hindered their progress. The better 
SoTth^^oM^ classes, who could travel, import their books and 

works of art, and keep in touch with the world, 
were cultured and charming; the large planters, with their sense 
of power and responsibility and their wide range of acquaint- 
ances, were, as a rule, men of mental vigor, many of them 
having distinct talents in politics and statecraft. But, in spite 
of the graces and talents of the planter class, slavery hung like 
a millstone about the neck of the people. If we judge by the 
number of schools and churches and newspapers and libraries, 
or by roads and railroads and all means of communication, 
by the hundreds of things which help us to determine the 
status of a community, we see that the South was now hope- 
lessly backward. In every respect the census returns of each 
decade showed that freedom was leaving slavery behind. "It 
was evident that the slave States were worse fitted at the end 
of each successive period for a forcible struggle with the free 
States, and that the scepter was departing from the South." 

In all that makes for education the South was lamentably 
poor. Outside of the houses of the rich in the larger cities or 
the homes of the great planters one would find neither "a book 
of Shakespeare, nor a pianoforte or sheet of music, nor the light 



of the opponents of slavery before the war too little attention was given 
to the fact that the South had ignorant as well as slave labor, a trouble which 
abolition of slavery could not immediately cure; and probably that fact 
must be taken into consideration in all of the matters mentioned in the 
text above. 

1 Slavery was at its best economically, where the individual slave 
was reduced to a mere cog in the machinery and where many of them 
iinder competent management devoted their labor to one crop. 



THE COMING OF THE CRISIS 



375 



Few schools. 



John Brown's 
raid. 1859. 



of a Carcel or other good center-table or reading lamp, nor an 
engraving or copy of any kind of a work of art of the slightest 
merit ".1 In the North (1850) there were 62,459 
schools and 2,770,381 pupils, while at the South 
there were only 29,041 schools attended by 583,292 pupils. But, 
worse than all else, a fear of the introduction of noxious prin- 
ciples that would endanger slavery cast its shadow upon the 
whole school system, for education can not flourish in the heavy 
atmosphere of dread or repression. In education, as in indus- 
try, slavery was degrading; it acted like a moral curse, poisoning 
the life blood of the people. 

The Southern people had for many years declared that the 
agitation of the slavery question was a menace to their safety. 
They declared, too, that the real intent and wish 
of the Abolitionists was to arouse a slave insurrec- 
tion and to bring woe and devastation to the whole 
South. An event now 
happened that seemed to 
them to prove them right 
in all their charges and 
suspicions. This was the 
famous raid of John Brown 
into Virginia. Brown 
was a New Englander by 
birth, who had taken an 
active part in the bloody 
struggle in Kansas. In 
fact, among "border 
ruffians" and fierce Free-State men the old Puritan had 
distinguished himself for fearlessness and violence. Now 
that Kansas was secured, he hoped to strike a more 
effective blow for freedom. His design was to seize 
the arsenal at Harper's Ferry, free the blacks in the neigh- 
borhood, and retreat to some stronghold in the moun- 




JoHN Brown s Fort 



1 Olmsted, The Cotton Kingdom, vol. ii, p. 285. Read Rhodes, vol, i, 
chap. iv. 



376 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

tains. Thence he would make incursions into the neigh- 
boring regions, and make his name a terror to the whole South. 
He hoped, indeed, to force the emancipation of the slaves, not 
perhaps by inciting a general revolt, but by gathering them up 
from time to time and by making property in slaves insecure. It 
was the scheme of a madman, and yet some of the ardent anti- 
slavery men to whom Brown confided his plan seemed to have 
had faith in its success. In the autumn of 1859 he seized the 
national arsenal at Harper's Ferry and began to free the slaves 
in the neighborhood. 

Troops were soon hurried to the spot and the little band was 
overpowered. Some of the men were shot in the struggle.' 
, , .. Brown himself, with several others, was captured. 

Its failure. ,., i . i .1 

They were speedily brought to trial, convicted, and 
hanged. The whole country was stirred by this event. The 
South believed, as never before, in the wickedness of the North. 
The moderate people of the Northern States condemned the act; 
but, wild as the plan had been, the devotion of Brown to his 
sense of duty, the calmness with which he met his fate, his readi- 
ness to die in the cause of freedom, won the attention even of 
the scoffer and gave a certain amount of dignity to Abolitionism. 
For a time, however, this act injured the anti-slavery cause, be- 
cause reasonable men could not sympathize with such methods 
and purposes. 

In tne election of i860 four candidates were nominated for 
the presidency. Although there had been differences between 

the Northern and Southern wings of the Demo- 
of 1860^*^ *°° cratic party up to this time, they had managed to 

work together. This now proved impossible, the 
Northern element refusing to accept Southern principles with 
reference to slavery in the Territories. The Southerners had 
by this time lost all patience with popular sovereignty. They 
utterly renounced it and embraced the principle of the Dred 
Scott case, which was in reality the earlier principle of Calhoun, 
and demanded that Congress should protect slavery in the Ter- 
ritories. They nominated John C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, 
and Joseph Lane, of Oregon. The Northern Democrats, under 



THE COMING OF THE CRISIS 377 

the lead of Douglas, still clung to popular sovereignty, and at 
the same time, quite inconsistently,^ declared their willingness 
to submit to the decision of the Supreme Court. They nom- 
inated Douglas and Herschel V. Johnson, of Georgia.- The 
Republicans denied the "authority of Congress, of a Territorial 
legislature, or of any individual to give legal existence to slavery 
in the Territories"; they repudiated the doctrine of popular 
sovereignty, and of the Dred Scott case as well. Their nominees 
were A.braham Lincoln, of Illinois, and Hannibal Hamlin, of 
Maine. A fourth party nominated John Bell, of Tennessee, 
and Edward Everett, of Massachusetts; it was called the Con- 
stitutional Union party. It declared for the " Constitution of 
the country, the Union of the States, and the enforcement of 
the laws". These broad terms and generous phrases could have 

1 The Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case declared that the National 
Government could not exclude slavery from the Territories. If that be so, 
then a Territory could not exclude slavery either, for it is created and its 
power bestowed upon it by the National Government. The doctrine of 
popular sovereignty was just as contradictory of the court's opinion as was 
the Republican doctrine, that it was within the power of Congress to 
exclude slavery. 

- The Democratic party split at a national convention at Charleston. 
The Southern wing wanted the Northern wing, which supported Douglas 
and desired his nomination for the presidency, to adopt a platform practi- 
cally asserting the legality of slavery in the territories and the duty of the 
national government to protect slavery there. The Northern Democrats had, 
however, gone as far as they would; they had advocated popular sover- 
eignty, and they had tried to scowl down anti-slavery agitation, but they 
could not go further. Yancey of Alabama, one of the Southern fire-eaters, 
an eloquent speaker, taunted the Northern Democrats with their disregard 
for Southern interests: "When I was a schoolboy in the Northern States, 
abolitionists were pelted with rotten eggs. But now this band of Aboli- 
tionists has spread and grown into three bands — Black Republicans, the 
Free Soilers, and Squatter Sovereignty men — all representing the common 
sentiment that slavery is wrong. I say it in no disrespect but it is a 
logical argument that your admission that slavery is wrong has been 
the cause of the discord". The South at the convention practically 
demanded that the Northern Democrats declare slavery to be right. 
"Gentlemen of the South", declared Senator Pugh of Ohio, "you 
mistake us— you mistake us— we will not do it"! When the Democratic 
party broke asunder the day was near at hand when the whole Union 
would be shattered. 



378 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

little meaning in such a crisis; but these men still hoped that 
words and resolutions and good purposes might quiet the tem- 
pest and save the Union. Lincoln was elected by a good elec- 
toral majority over all other candidates; but the Republicans 
were still a minority of the people, for they cast only about eigh- 
teen hundred thousand votes, while all of their opponents cast 
about a million more. The situation was therefore essentially 
different from what it would have been, had the party been sure 
of anything like a united North behind it. 

A number of times the leading men at the South had declared 

that the Southern States could no longer remain in the Union 

if the Republican party were successful. The 

South Carolina ^orth had uot taken these threats very seriously. 

leads in , , "^ 

secession. They wcrc thought to be but bluster, in which 

the South was considered a master. "The old 
Mumbo-Jumbo", said James Russell Lowell, "is occasionally pa- 
raded at the North, but, however many old women maybe fright- 
ened, the pulse of the stock market remains provokingly calm". 
But in some parts of the South men were desperately in earnest, 
and had no intention of resting content with words. South Caro- 
lina was ready to take the lead — not to stand on her rights and 
nullify congressional action, as in 1832, but to withdraw entirely 
from the Union. December 20, i860, a popular convention at 
Charleston passed an ordinance of secession. Its cardinal words 
are as follows: 

"We, the people of the State of South Carolina, in con- 
vention assembled, do declare and ordain . . . that the Union 
now subsisting between South Carolina and other States under 
the name of 'The United States of America' is hereby dissolved". 
Before the end of the winter Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Missis- 
sippi, Louisiana, and Texas passed like ordinances. Other 
Southern States hesitated, and for the time being took no de- 
cisive action. 

When Congress met after the election. President Buchanan 
sent in his message (December 3, i860). The whole country 
read it with great interest, for the stand which the President 
would take toward secession was of the utmost importance. 



CHARLESfOK 

MERCURY 



EXTRA: 



Passea unanlmotisly at LIS o^eiock» J*. JEf , Deeember 
SO/A, I860. 

Alt ORDINANCE 

"To dhtohe the Chton betwtm the State <tf South Carolina and 
other States united Ufith her *mder the compact entitled « The 
Constitution qf the PtiUed Slatea oj America?' 

Wt, da PtopU ofOit State of South Carolina, it Omvatim auaiuikd, do declare and ordain, and 
it is bertb^ declared and ordained, 

Thtt tha Ordinanoa adopted bj ns io CoDTenttOD, oo tbe twenty-third ds; of Maf, ia tbs 
yestof oorLotd one thoosuid ceren 'hondred wd atghtj-eigbt, irbetebj the CoDstitutioa of tbe 
Omted 8tat«a of Amerin WM ntiSed, and alao^ all Aots and parta of Acts of tbe Oeneral 
Au»mVtj of tills Btala^ nti^liig aiacsdfflaota of tbe aaid CosstitotioD, an> boreby repealed; 
•ad that tbe aoloa now salalstiog between Sooth CatoUsa and other States, under the name of 
*Ibe Vniled Slates of America," is ber«by diaaolTed. 



THE 

UNION 



mSSdlVED! 



380 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

Already South Carolina was preparing to carry out her threats 
of disunion. Buchanan denied that the right of secession was 

constitutional, and asserted his intention to retain 
message.''^ possession of the property of the United States 

in the South; but he entered laboriously into a 
long argument to prove that there was no legal right to "coerce 
a State" or compel it to remain in the Union against its will. 
He cast the blame for existing difl&culties on the North, because 
of the violation of the fugitive slave law and the continual en- 
croachments upon Southern right$. He even spoke encourag- 
ingly of getting Cuba; this meant, of course, more slave terri- 
tory. There was nothing in the message from one end to the 
other which would be likely to fill with hope and courage those 
who were longing for strength and wisdom in high places, or to 
make those falter and hesitate who were plotting a disruption 
of the Union.^ 

Buchanan's position all through this time was a trying one. 
In December his Cabinet began to break up.^ Cass resigned 

because he thought the President was not acting 
Buchanan and "with sufficient vigor to maintain Federal authority, 
forts. Black became Secretary of State in his place. Cobb 

and Floyd resigned to take active parts in the move- 
ment for secession, and Thompson, the Secretary of the Interior, 
soon followed them; and, as their places were filled with Union 

1 It should be noticed that the Constitution does not give a right to 
coerce a State, in so many words; it provides for a government which is 
directly and itnmediately over people. The citizens of South Carolina were 
also citizens of the United States. The Government of the United States 
was immediately over them, and was just as much their government as 
the government at Columbia was. The Federal Government could enforce 
its laws against the citizens of South Carolina; and therefore there was no 
need to consider the question as to whether or not it could coerce a State. 
In the Philadelphia Convention in 1787, James Wilson pointed out the 
real situation. "In explaining his reasons", said Madison in his Journal, 
"it was necessary to observe the twofold relations in which the people 
would stand, first, as citizens of the General Government, and, secondly, 
as citizens of their particular State. . . . Both governments were derived 
from the people, both meant for the people; both, therefore, ough*^ to be 
regulated by the same principles". 

2 Read Rhodes, History, vol. iii, p. 187. 



THE COMING OF THE CRISIS 381 

men, before the middle of the winter Buchanan had a loyal Cab- 
inet. When the Southern States passed the ordinances of se- 
cession they took possession of the Federal forts and other prop- 
erty within their limits. Their theory was that the land be- 
longed to them, but they professed willingness to pay for the 
improvements. With the exception of four forts on the Gulf 
and the forts in Charleston harbor, these positions passed into 
the hands of the secessionists without trouble. The position at 
Charleston was of special interest and importance. Fort Sum- 
ter was held "by a small force under Major Anderson. He deter- 
mined to hold his position until ordered by the National Govern- 
ment to retire. Buchanan refused to give up the place to the 
South Carolina authorities. Early in January an attempt was 
made to send relief to the little garrison, whose stronghold was 
now menaced by the batteries that had been thrown up to 
command it and the approaches to it. A small steamer, the 
Star of the West, was dispatched with this assistance. The 
batteries opened fire on her, and she gave up the attempt to 
relieve Sumter. This happened early in January, and for three 
months and more Anderson and his brave little force continued 
to hold the fort for the Union at the very gates of the proud 
State that was leading the movement for secession. 

The session of Congress in the winter of 1861 was a gloomy 
one, largely taken up with discussions of compromise and con- 
cession, for men still hoped against hope that the 
compromise. Union could be saved without war. The proposals 
of Senator Crittenden, of Kentucky, were long con- 
sidered in the Senate, and many persons thought that a com- 
promise could be reached on the basis he advocated. He pro- 
posed amendments to the Constitution, one of them providing 
that the Hne 36° 30' should be run through to the Pacific to 
separate slave territory from free. But a committee appointed 
by the Senate to consider these proposals could come to no 
agreement. The Republican members of the committee voted 
against the proposition, and without substantial agreement in 
the committee there could be no chance for the amendments 
before Congress cr the people. So this device failed. The 



382 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

House had no better success in agreeing upon a compromise than 
had the Senate. At the suggestion of Virginia, a "peace con- 
vention" was held at Washington in midwinter. Delegates 
were present from twenty-one States, but the assembly accom- 
plished nothing. Some of the Northern people were now timor- 
ous and fearful, and longed for concession and settlement on 
almost any basis. Others seemed to see that they could not 
give up the fair results of the election and call their action com- 
promise,^ for the Republican party was pledged to oppose the 
spread of slavery anywhere, either north or south of 36° 30'. 

In February delegates from six Southern States ^ met at 
Montgomery, Ala. They organized a confederacy called the 
Confederate States of America and agreed upon a 
The Confederate constitution, which was in most respects similar to 
America. that of the United States. They elected Jefferson 

Davis President, and Alexander H. Stephens, of 
Georgia, Vice-President. 

It is not necessary to give here at length the arguments used 
in favor of the right of secession. John C. Calhoun, thirty 
years before, had clearly outlined them, and iii 
argument.^" Considering his statements in regard to State sov- 
ereignty and nullification we have seen briefly 
what might be said in favor of the right of a State to secede. It 
must be remembered that the Southerners believed that they 
were acting strictly within their legal rights; that each State had 
entered into a compact or agreement with other States, and that 
when that agreement was violated or the interests of a State no 
longer subserved by the Union, it was at liberty to withdraw. 
They had been for some years saturated with Calhoun's doc- 
trines, and the peculiar character of slavery had put them in a 



1 Lincoln let his opinion be known to a few of the influential men. He 
objected to dividing the Territories by a geographic line. "Let this be 
done", he said, "and immediately filibustering and extending slavery re- 
commences". 

^ South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, and Missis" 
sippi. Texas delegates were appointed a little later than the first meeting 
of this convention. 



THE COMING OF THE CRISIS 



383 




c:::?^^^^^^'^^^*^^^^?^' 



defensive attitude. Hence they had come to consider the State 
as the chief guardian of their interests, while, on the other hand, 
a feeling of national patriotism 
was growing daily at the North. 
The North felt more surely, year 
by year, the fact that the Ameri- 
can people were a nation, and that 
the republic must not be torn 
asunder. But slavery made the 
Southern people feel that they 
were different from the North, 
from the rest of the world, in- 
deed; that they had their own sep- 
arate institutions and must de- 
fend them. 

The North held that secession 
was neither more nor less than 

revolution. The people believed with unwaver- 
ing faith that the Union was one and indestruct- 
ible; that they must use force to crush a rebel- 
lion which would break into pieces the republic of 
which they had grown so proud. When the time of action came 
they did not stop to discuss fine points of law, because fervent 
love of country was burning in their hearts. Even those who 
had argued in favor of Southern rights, and spoken in behalf of 
State sovereignty, were not ready to accept the consequences of 
such doctrine. They felt the national life, and were prepared 
to announce its existence on the field of battle. 

Slavery caused the Civil War. It is true that the North 

fought at first not to free the negro, but to preserve the Union; 

few were ready to admit that the end would be 

Slavery was forcible abolition. But the South seceded because 

destructive of i i • r i 

Union. the Republicans opposed the extension of slavery, 

because the Southerners believed that slavery would 
be unsafe even in their own States, and because the leaders were 
driven to madness by a long struggle for equahty in which they 
now saw themselves beaten . It is true that slavery caused the war, 



Northern senti 
ment toward 
the Union. 



384 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

and, as we shall see, the war put slavery away; but the war was 
for the Union, and it brought into being a better and greater 
Union than ever before, not simply a legal, formal, union of 
States, but a real union of feeling and impulses and sympathies, 
such as could not exist while slavery was vitiating the life of one 
great section of the people. 

References 

Hart, Contemporaries, Volume IV, Chapters XI, XII; Wilson, 
Division and Reunion, pp. 196-219; Burgess, The Civil War and the 
Constitution, Volume I, Chapters I-VI; Morse, Abraham Lincoln, 
Volume I, pp. 1 1 1-250; Storey, Sumner, Chapters X, XI; Hart, 
C/za5c, Chapter VII; Lothrop, ^ewa^-J, pp. 168-262; McLaughlin, 
Lewis Cass, pp. 328-350. Longer accounts: Schouler, Volume V, 
Chapter XXII; Rhodes, Volume II, Chapters IX-XI; Volume 
III, Chapters XIII-XIV; Chadwick, The Eve of the Civil War. 



CHAPTER XXI 
SECESSION AND CIVIL WAR— 1861-1865 



Lincoln's 
early life. 



Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky in iSog. His 
father moved later to Indiana, and thence to Illinois. The fam- 
ily were miserably poor, the father shiftless and 
utterly lacking in force of character. The early 
life of the boy was spent in the midst of squalor 
and extreme poverty. He is said to 
have been at school only one year in 
his whole life. What books he could 
lay hands on, however, he read 
eagerly. He used to write and do 
"sums", we are told, on the wooden 
shovel by the fireside, and to shave 
off the surface in order to renew his 
labor. By dint of perseverance he 
educated himself in some way with- 
out the help of schools; and we find 
in his later life that few men could 
use the English language so simply 
and effectively as he, and few men 
thought and spoke with such clear- 
ness or showed such keen insight 
into the difficult problems of the 
time. 

He managed to get admitted to the bar in Illinois, was 
elected to the Legislature, and finally to Congress. He was at 
first a Whig, but joined the Republican party when 
it was organized, becoming at once one of its most 
prominent members. He won for the first time 
national attention and respect in the famous debates with Doug- 
las in 1858. The skill which Lincoln showed in these discus- 
26 385 




His political 
career. 



386 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

sions, where he was at least a match for his renowned antagonist, 
won him popularity and applause in the whole North. And yet 
when he was elected President in i860 few people had any idea 
of his strength. It was thought even by many Republicans 
that he was scarcely fit to carry the load in such a crisis. No 
one could know his full greatness, for it required the awful trials 
of four years of war, the woe and anxiety such as few men in the 
world's history have ever tried to bear, to bring out the wisdom, 
judgment, and profundity of his mind and the sweetness and 
lovableness of his character. 

Lincoln made up his Cabinet from the leaders of his party, 

not shrinking from the task of guiding them. Seward was made 

Secretary of State; Chase, Secretary of the Treas- 

His Cabinet o- /~< o ^ r iir tt- 

and inaugural ury; Simon Cameron, Secretary of War. His m- 
augural address was a masterpiece. He did not 
unduly threaten the Confederate States, but he solemnly 
warned them to consider the consequences of their conflict. He 
left no doubt in any one's mind about what he held to be his 
duty: "To the extent of my ability I shall take care . . . that 
the laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the States. 
... I trust this will not be considered as a menace, but only 
as the declared purpose of the Union, that it will constitutionally 
defend and maintain itself". 

Soon after his inauguration Lincoln began to consider Avhat 

should be done about Fort Sumter. There was great difference 

of opinion as to what should be done. Most of 

Fort Sumter. , 5^ , • i • i r 

the Cabmet hesitated at first to take any step that 
might bring on war, but the final feeling was well expressed 
in the words of Chase: "If war is to be the result, I see 
no reason why it may not be best begun inconsequence of mili- 
tary resistance to the efforts of the administration to sustain 
troops of the Union, stationed under the authority of the Gov- 
ernment, in a fort of the Union, in the ordinary course of service". 
A fleet was consequently ordered to carry relief to the fort. Be- 
fore it arrived, however, General Beauregard, the leader of the 
Confederate forces, summoned Major Anderson, who was in com- 
mand of Sumter, to surrender. Anderson refused, and the batteries 



SECESSION AND CIVIL WAR— 1861-1865 



387 



The war is 
begun. 



\ . •"'■ 



W<'. 









/ ;■ U 

A^<^ Castle ] 



CHAULKSTOX V 
HAUBOll 




opened on the fort April 12, 1861. The bombardment lasted 
thirty-four hours, and then Anderson surrendered the position. 
He saluted his flag with 
fifty guns, and marched 
out "with colors flying 
and drums beating, bring- 
ing away company and 
private property". 

The firing on Sumter 
aroused the North to 
the highest 
pitch of ex- 
citement. 
Among the great mass of 
citizens there were no 
longer discussions of con- 
stitutional or legal rights. 
The flag of the nation had been fired upon, and that was 
enough. The President called for volunteers to suppress 
the insurrection, and the people answered with promptness; 
*'as if by magic, the peaceful North became one vast 
camp". Washington, surrounded by slaveholding States, was 
in peril, and troops were hastened to its defense. The first 
blood of the war was shed in Baltimore, where a mob resisted 
the passage of the Northern regiments. The city, however, was 
soon forcibly occupied and compelled to keep the peace. Mary- 
land was kept from joining the Confederacy. Washington was 
garrisoned and defended — it remained in effect a walled town 
for the next four years. 

South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, 
Louisiana, Texas, had passed ordinances of secession before the 
firing on Sumter. Arkansas joined the Confed- 
eracy May 6, and North Carolina May 20. Vir- 
ginia and Tennessee took the same step somewhat 
later. Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, though containing 
strong slaveholding elements and sympathizing with the South, 
did not join the Confederacy. 



The 
Confederacy. 



388 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

Neither section was prepared for war, — the North perhaps 
even less than the South; for Northern people, though fear- 
ing open conflict, had almost to the end talked 
South ""^^ *" about Southern "bluster" and believed that all 
the trouble would blow over. An immense army 
had to be raised and furnished with munitions of war. The 
North was strong, for it was built on free labor and had far 
outstripped the South in industry and wealth. The South 
was strong in desperate valor, for the people believed that the 
Northern army was a foreign invader; a long resistance could 
be made, for the men were fighting for their hearthstones. But 
the North must finally win, if the struggle went on, for its re- 
sources were varied and practically unlimited. It was really 
a contest between the powers of modern civilization on the one 
hand, and, on the other, the weakness of a people whose industry 
was founded on slave labor, but who were supported by a mag- 
nificent and never-failing courage. 

The North appreciated the weakness of the South; indeed, 
believed that it was weaker and .less in earnest than it was. 
Neither section, in fact, recognized fully the 
physical strength and intense moral earnestness 
of the other. It was decided very early in the war to crush 
out the "rebellion", and this aim, though difificult to carry out, 
was not abandoned. The main instrument in this crushing 
process, or the "Anaconda" system, was the navy, which 
was soon employed in establishing an immense commercial 
blockade. The enormous task of preventing any vessel from 
entering or leaving a Southern port was undertaken. Before 
long the ports from Chesapeake Bay to Galveston were 
guarded by ships of the United States navy. 

The natural line of defense of the South was the Ohio and 
the Potomac; but as neither Maryland nor Kentucky joined the 
Confederacy, the Confederates were compelled to 
sitiL^n^*^^ take up a Hne of defense considerably south of 
these rivers both in the East and in the West. 
The attitude of the Confederate armies was principally one of 
defense, and of the Federals one of attack. It is necessary to 



SECESSION AND CIVIL WAR— 1861-1865 389 

keep these salient facts in mind. The defensive attitude of the 
Southern armies gave them great military advantage. 

The mountains, running in a southwesterly direction from 
near the source of the Potomac, divided the field of war into two 
natural divisions. In the East the main purpose of the Northern 
army was to reach the political center of the Confederacy, Rich- 
mond. There were two natural methods of approach : one over- 
land, almost straight southward from Washington; in this course 
the invading force would be endangered and retarded by forests, 
through which the roads were often poor, and by streams, which 
were sometimes swollen by rains and difficult of passage; the 
other method of approach was by way of the sea to the penin- 
sula between the York and the James Rivers, and thence up the 
peninsula to Richmond. Each method presented difficulties. 
In the West the first great purpose was to get possession of the 
Mississippi, which divided the western part of the Confederacy 
in two. Here Vicksburg, strongly fortified by nature and art, 
was a strategic position of immense importance. The rivers in 
the West, large and navigable, would serve as roads by which to 
pierce the enemy's country. An examination of the map will 
make it apparent,^ too, that Chattanooga, holding, as it were, 
the gateway between Tennessee and the Southeast, was likely 
to be a center of conflict, for, if the Union forces succeeded in 
getting possession of eastern Tennessee, a great contest would 
ensue at this point, which was doubly important, because 
from it one railroad ran northeast to Richmond, another south- 
eastward to the sea. 

Looking a little more closely at the first Southern line of 
defense, we find in the West the following important posts: 
Columbus, New Madrid, and Island No. lo on the 
po^Stfon"^^^" Mississippi, Fort Henry on the Tennessee, and Fort 
Donelson on the Cumberland. In the East we 
find first that the western portion of Virginia was of great value 
to either party. The eastern part of the State was more fully 
protected by the Confederate troops, who had taken up a posi- 

^ See map, p. 420. 



390 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

tion south of Washington. The cry at the South was "On to 
Washington"! the North answered "On to Richmond"! 

The Confederates were beaten in two battles in western Vir- 
ginia, and this secured to the North control of that portion of 
. . . the country. The people there were not generally 
slaveholders and had little sympathy with seces- 
sion. They therefore formed a separate State and came into the 
Union as West Virginia. The movement was begun early, but 
it was June, 1863, before the State was admitted to the Union. 

The people at the North, not realizing what war meant, and 
believing that all would be over in a few months, clamored for 
activity. They did not appreciate that the troops 
July ii^'isei were raw and undisciplined, but they demanded 
immediate victory. General McDowell, who com- 
manded the army in the field in front of Washington, set out 
with an army of about thirty thousand men to attack the Con- 
federates, who were commanded by Beauregard and Joseph E. 
Johnston. The two armies met near Bull Run Creek, not far 
from Manassas Junction, about twenty-five miles southwest of 
Washington. The arrangements of the battle were well planned ; 
but the Federal troops were not under proper control, and the 
subordinate generals were not well trained. For some time the 
men fought with quite remarkable vigor and courage; but at 
length re-enforcements for the Confederates appeared on the 
field and began a flank attack. The National forces then began 
a retreat, which "soon became a rout, and this presently de- 
generated into a panic". Many are said not to have stopped 
fleeing until they reached Washington. But the Confederate 
forces were in no condition for pursuit. The victory was almost 
as demoralizing to them as defeat to the Federals. 

The battle of Bull Run depressed the North, but it brought 
home to the people some conception of what it meant to 
maintain the Union. Horace Greeley wrote to 
battle*^ ** * ^ Lincoln a letter, which illustrates the depression at 
the North. It begins with the words, " This is my 
seventh sleepless night"; it ends, "Yours in the depths of bit- 
terness". It was no holiday campaign that was needed. Lovers 



SECESSION AND CIVIL WAR— 1861-1865 



391 



of the Union quieted down into stern determination to fight 
steadily for the laws, and the effect of the defeat was good. The 







' , 'J J 



)r>o ;, '^^^ 



'^ \fi 



--fi 



R 




Appomattox C.H 




f.>K.S:7 






The War in the East 

elated South believed more strongly than ever that the South 
could not be, conquered. 

After this battle it was evident that the soldiers needed drill- 
ing and the army needed organization before success on the 
field of battle was possible. General McClellan, who had won 
some success in western Virginia, was summoned to take 
command of the troops in front of Washington. In November 



392 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

General Scott was put upon the retired list, and McClellan 
succeeded him in general charge of the armies of the United 
States. Under their new commander the troops, 
M^cOeUan which were being daily increased with new re- 

cruits, were organized into the Grand Army of 
the Potomac; but for months there was no movement. The 
anxious Northern householder, growing again impatient, read 
each day in his newspaper: "All quiet on the Potomac". 

Hardly was the war begun when England issued a "procla- 
mation of neutrality". This acknowledged the belligerency of 
the Confederacy. The theory of the United 
Southern States Government was that there was in reality 

belligerency _ _ •' 

acknowledged, no war, but Only an insurrection. The people 
therefore felt that Great Britain acted hastily in 
acknowledging that the South was a belligerent power.^ The 
North had hoped for the sympathy of the English in a contest 
manifestly in the interest of freedom; and when England so 
quickly issued this proclamation there was considerable 
resentment. France soon took the same step, and other states 
followed. 

The South, on the other hand, believed that the European 
states would not suffer the supply of cotton to be cut off, and 
that England especially would be forced to recog- 
The South nize the Confederacy as an independent power, 
ton^is^kin*^"*" break up the blockade, and possibly directly join 
in the contest in order to obtain cotton for her 
mills, so that her starving operatives might have work. This 
never came about, however. Had the South been fighting 
for home rule alone, and not for slavery, the European states 
would have been under stronger temptation to acknowledge the 
Confederacy as a separate nation. 

1 Such a proclamation does not acknowledge that those engaged in a 
rebellion have really formed a new state in the family of nations, but it 
declares that war exists between two parties. Now the United 
States Government at this time was not willing to admit that this 
" rebellion" was a war; they wished the "rebels" to be considered merely 
as insurgents. 



SECESSION AND CIVIL WAR— 1861-1865 



393 



In the West, during the summer of 1861, not much was ac- 
complished in the way of offensive warfare. In Missouri there 
was some sharp fighting. A large element of the 
people of that State sympathized with the seces- 
sion movement, and for some time the State was 
given up to internal conflict. A convention finally voted for 



In the West, 
1861. 




Field of the Western Campaigns of the Civil War 



the Union by a large majority, and the Federal forces 
brought the State under their control. Kentucky endeavored 
at first to hold a neutral position, siding neither 
for°he^ Union" ^"^'^th the North nor the South, but by the in- 
finite tact and patience of Lincoln, who en- 
couraged and guided the strong element in the State which. 
was opposed to secession, that State also was saved to the 
Union. 

At the end of the year 1861, with Kentucky now committed 
to the Union, the time had come for an onward march of Federal 



394 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

troops in the West and, as we shall see, in the course of the 
next year rapid progress was made. A glance at the map will 
show what an advantage the rivers were to the 
West' '°*^ ° ^ Northern forces in their invasion of the Southwest- 
ern States. Troops could be conveyed up and down 
these rivers easily and rapidly, or their supplies could be quickly 
provided.^ Seeing this advantage, the National Government 
made great efforts to fit out boats that would be of service on 
these Western waters. This gunboat service in the West 
formed a very important factor in the movement of armies and 
in the conquest of the country. 

The Congress elected in i860 was summoned to meet in extra 
session on the 4th of July, 1861. The Republicans controlled 
^ the House and Senate. The Democrats joined in 

Political affairs. , . , . . i i • 

necessary war legislation. Before the gathering 
of Congress the President had, of his own accord, declared the 
suspension of the privilege of habeas corpus within the vicinity 
of Baltimore, and had done a great many acts made necessary 
by the emergency. His actions were now ratified by Congress. 

These acts were principally the first call for mil- 
act?on^^^'° itia, establishment of the blockade, the call for 

three-year volunteers, the increase of the regular 
army and navy, and the suspension of the privilege of the writ 
of habeas corpus} The President recommended in his first 
message that an army of four hundred thousand men be raised. 
Congress passed a bill providing for enlistments of not more 
than five hundred thousand men, and authorized a loan of two 
hundred and fifty million dollars. It increased the tariff duties, 
and provided for a direct tax and an income tax. 



1 Contrast the situation in the west as far as geographical condition^ 
were concerned with that in the east. Any good map will do to show the 
main facts. See map, p. 393. 

^ There was little question of the legality of the first two, and all, if 
extra-constitutional, seemed necessary and desirable. When the privilege 
of habeas corpus is suspended a judge would have no right to issue the writ 
and examine into the legality of a man's imprisonm.ent; if a person is held 
under the order of the executive officers of the nation that is enough. 



SECESSION AND CIVIL WAR— 1861-1865 395 

By this time Lincoln had shown his master hand as a popu- 
lar leader. Whatever he said came to the people of the North 
as sound sense. He addressed in simple, straight- 
power."^ forward language "the plain people" and he soon 

obtained their unwavering support. In strictly 
executive matters, too, he was the guiding spirit of the admin- 
istration, not yielding his judgment to the M^ise men who made 
up his Cabinet. "The President is the best of us", wrote 
Seward candidly. 

We should notice at this juncture how the Northern men 
were now united, irrespective of parties. The Government was 
in the hands of the Republicans, but on the motion offered in 
the House by a Democrat that the House should pledge itself 
"to vote for any amount of money and any number of men 
which may be necessary to insure a speedy and effectual sup- 
pression of the rebellion", there were only four votes in opposi- 
tion. In January of 1862, Edwin M. Stanton, who had been 
a lifelong Democrat, was made Secretary of War, in place of 
Simon Cameron. There were, it must be said, throughout the 
war some persons at the North, known as Copperheads, who 
were in secret sympathy with the South, or at the best out of 
sympathy with the North; but the great body of the people, 
whatever may have been their earlier political leanings, were 
now heartily for the Union. 

In the autumn of 1861 serious discord and ill feeling were 
brought about between England and America by an affair in it- 
self comparatively trivial. The Confederate Gov- 
^g^jj. ernment, intent on getting full recognition from 

foreign states, dispatched two commissioners, the 
one to England, the other to France. Conveyed by an English 
ship, the Trent, they were intercepted by an American man-of- 
war, under the command of Captain Wilkes, and were taken 
into custody. The English Government demanded the imme- 
diate release of the commissioners and a suitable apology, and 
began preparations for war. Our Government took time for 
consideration, and then gave up the men. Here doubtless Eng- 
land was right. Our man-of-war had no right to stop an Eng- 



396 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

lish vessel on the high seas and take passengers from her. But 
the abruptness of the demand for reparation and the haste 
shown in preparing for war irritated the American people, al- 
ready annoyed by the attitude that England had taken toward 
the South. Our Government, by a courteous yielding, was 
saved a war which would have perhaps been overwhelmingly 
disastrous while the Civil War was in progress.^ 

At the beginning of 1862 the Union army was large, and, on 
the whole, well disciplined and equipped. There were over six 

hundred thousand soldiers in the whole army. 
1862!^'"°^ ° '^^^ western army, which had not done much the 

previous year because of the general situation in 
Kentucky and for other reasons, now moved forward preparing 
to attack Forts Henry and Donelson, the former on the Tennes- 
see, the latter on the Cumberland River. If these were taken 

the Confederate line would be broken in the cen- 

Grant's victories, , ^ j t^ j. -^1 i ^ ^ 

February, 1862. ^^^- Commodorc h oote. With several gunboats, 
carried up the Tennessee an army of seventeen 

^ Probably the people of England have never known how deeply the North- 
ern people were hurt, at the lack of sympathy and of expression of friendly 
feeling from England. The Northerners felt that theirs was a holy cause 
and that free people everywhere should sympathize. I do not mean to say 
that the Southerners did not also feel that they had a holy cause; they did 
think so. But in speaking of Northern sentiment during the war, annoy- 
ance and disappointment at English coldness cannot be omitted. And yet 
the common people of England, on the whole, did side with the North. 

England was sorely pressed for want of cotton. The situation is humor- 
ously expressed in a few lines from "Punch." 

"Though with the North we sympathize, 

It must not be forgotten, 
That with the South we've stronger ties 

Which are composed of cotton; 
Whereof our imports mount unto 

A sum of many figures; 
And where would be our calico, 

Without the toil of niggers? 



Thus a divided duty we 

Perceive in this hard matter. 

Free-trade, or sable brothers free? 
Oh, won't we choose the latter"! 



SECESSION AND CIVIL WAR— 1861-1865 



397 



thousand men, under command of General Grant. The army 
was landed and the boats engaged the batteries of Fort Henry. 



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but protracted engagement was unnecessary, inasmuch as most 
of the Confederate force had been withdrawn to Fort Donelson, 



398 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

which was only eleven miles distant. Grant now marched his 
army to the Cumberland, and with reenforcement and the aid 
of the gunboats, which made their way around to assist him, he 
held Fort Donelson in his grasp. Beating back the garrison, 
which tried to break through the Union lines, the army assaulted 
the works; part of the works were carried, the fort surrendered 
and over fifteen thousand prisoners were taken. The main line 
of the Confederate defence was broken. These victories greatly 
encouraged the North, and the Union army moved on to Nash- 
ville. New Madrid and Island No. lo, strongly held by the 
Confederates as advanced posts on the Mississippi River, were 
next attacked and taken by Commodore Foote and General 
Pope; and thus the great river was opened nearly as far south 
as Memphis. 

After Grant's victory at Donelson the Confederates had 

gathered in force at Corinth in Northern Mississippi. 

This place was now a strong position in their 

enew o ed- ^^^^ ^^^^ ^£ defense which ran along the Mem- 

erate line. '-' 

phis and Charleston Railroad, from Memphis 
through Corinth to Chattanooga. Grant prepared to break 
this new line. The main body of his army, some forty thousand 
men, was at Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee, while General 
Buell was marching across the country from Nashville to co- 
operate with him. Then occurred the fearful 
Aprii^ 1862 ° ' bloody battle of Shiloh or Pittsburg Landing. 
The Confederates fiercely attacked the Union line, 
and at the end of the first day, fighting magnificently, had driven 
Grant's forces back about a mile from the position occupied in 
the morning. Though the situation was critical and dangerous. 
Grant was not discouraged, and when Buell's army arrived, as 
it did during the night, the tables were turned, and the Con- 
federates were driven from the field.^ 

^ Grant always strenuously maintained that even had Buell not arrived 
he could have won the victory on the morrow. Certainly the Union forces 
were not thoroughly beaten on the first day, but reenforcements made 
success a certainty. 

This was one of the fierce, bloody and awful battles of the War, — the 



SECESSION AND CIVIL WAR— 1861-1865 399 

The Federal army then took Corinth. Thus the second 
chief line of the Confederate defense in the West was broken. 

Next Memphis fell, and the Mississippi was free 
Me'mphirtaken. ^o the Union gunboats as far south as Vicksburg. 

There were other battles in the west that summer 
(1862), and thousands of lives were lost, the most important 
battle being that of Murfreesboro or Stone River, where the 
Union forces under Rosecrans were successful. Toward the end 
of the year, Grant moved south from Corinth toward Vicksburg, 
while Rosecrans faced the Confederate army under General 
Bragg which held Chattanooga, a strategic position of prime 
importance.^ 

Early in the year 1862, occurred the first battle ever fought 
between iron-clad ships. The Confederates had taken the hulk 

of an old vessel, cut it down and covered it with an 
Monitor and ^j-qj^ coating, thus Converting it into a floating bat- 

Mernmac, " • i i i it 

March, 1862. tery most formidable to the ordmary wooden ves- 
sels which made up the Northern navy. Early 
in March this strange monster appeared, attacked the frigates, 
Congress and Cumberland, at the mouth of the James River, 
and destroyed them without difficulty. The success of the 
blockade was endangered and there was great consternation. It 
was feared that the Merrimac might bombard Washington, and 
even sail to Philadelphia or New York. But now a new and 



first of the really great ones. The loss of the two armies was very large, 
the Union army losing some 13,000 men in killed, wounded and missing. 
"Missing", that dreadful word, read by anxious fathers and mothers in 
the morning newspapers, telling nothing, but leaving uncertainty, fear, 
hope, and woe behind it. 

^ The pupil can easily follow the main strategy of the western campaign 
by tracing out the lines of advance on the map. (i) Grant moves south 
from Henry and Donelson, is attacked at Shiloh; moves on to Corinth, is 
attacked there again in September and October (battles not mentioned in 
the text above), and finally presses on against Vicksburg. (2) Meanwhile, 
by operations down the river, Memphis is taken, and the gunboats begin 
to get ready to help Grant at Vicksburg. (3) Again in the eastern part of 
Kentucky and Tennessee, there were conflicts resulting on the whole in 
Union success, so that at the end of the year the Confederates were in the 
neighborhood of Chattanooga and barred further Union advance. 



400 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

strange craft appeared upon the scene. Northern ingenuity 
had produced an antagonist quite a match for the Merrimac. 
The Monitor was seemingly a mere platform, with a movable 
turret pierced for two guns. Between the two iron vessels a 
conflict ensued in Hampton Roads. The shot and shell that 
were poured against the Monitor's turret and deck glanced 
harmlessly aside. The Merrimac was not destroyed, but after 
a fight of several hours it withdrew to Norfolk, its victorious 
career at an end. 

The control of the whole course of the Mississippi was of 
great importance. In the spring of 1862 a powerful fleet was 

fitted out to attack New Orleans from the Gulf. 
New^orieLs ^^ Capture the place was a difficult task, for it was 

defended by strong forts and by a number of ships 
of war. The command of the expedition against it was given 
to David G. Farragut. In April the fleet began the bombard- 
ment of the forts. Six days and nights without intermission 
shells were thrown from huge mortars into the defenses, but they 
did not succeed in destroying the works or driving the garrison 
out. Farragut then planned to run by the forts, attack the fleet 
above them, proceed up the river, and take the city. This he 
did, and New Orleans passed into the hands of the Federal 
forces, April, 1862.^ 

Leaving the scene of war in the West, where the Union forces 
had pushed on till they threatened Vicksburg on the Mississippi 

and Chattanooga on the edge of the mountains, 
.^ll^.Z!^^^ ^ let us now turn to the East. All through the au- 

campaign. o 

tumn and winter of 1861-2 the army of the Po- 
tomac lay in quietness.- In the spring McClellan decided to 

^ We could name many men of noble character, unflinching courage, 
and high capacity, who served on one side or the other during the war. 
But from the list we could certainly not exclude Farragut and General 
George H. Thomas — and both of them, though fighting for the Union, 
were Southerners, and neither need scarcely suffer in comparison (and here 
comparisons are odious) of ability or character with the capable, big-minded, 
wide-hearted Lee himself. 

2 Battle of Ball's Bluff, a serious defeat for the Union forces, occurred 
in October; but only a small force was engaged. 



SECESSION AND CIVIL WAR— 1861-1865 



401 



transfer his forces to the peninsula between the James River 
and the York. He moved leisurely up the peninsula, hindered 
somewhat by the enemy, and especially balked by a daring of- 
fensive move made by "Stonewall Jackson" down the Shenan- 
doah Valley toward Washington. This valley was peculiarly 
advantageous ground for Southern forces. It furnished a safe 

avenue for raids into Maryland 

or feints against Washington. 

If the Union forces pursued, they 

were led constantly away 

from Richmond. 

McClellan with a mag- 
nificent army, 
pushing slowly 
up the penin- 
sula, was daily 
creeping nearer 
the Confeder- 
ate capital. 
He was nearly 
beaten at Fair 
Oaks; but by 
the end of June 

he was encamped within four miles of the city, and his out- 
posts thought they could hear the sound of church bells in Rich- 
mond. The time was yet far distant, however, when Union 
soldiers would listen to sermons or roll themselves in their 
blankets and go to sleep in the old church buildings of the South- 
ern city. 

Robert E. Lee now took command of the Confederate army 
and showed at once marked military capacity. Pretending to 
send forces to the Shenandoah Valley to reenforce Jackson, he 
actually summoned Jackson back to Richmond. Then with a 
united army he furiously attacked the long line of the 
National troops, and the Seven Days' Battles began; on 
the one side a powerful and brave Union army, ably led; 
on the other, a courageous host led by a man of genius^ 
27 




The Peninsula Campaign 



402 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



McClellan handled his big army with some skill; but he 

was no match for Lee. And yet the Union Army was 

not really routed; 

Seven Days' ^-J^gy stubbornly 

Fight, June 26 ■ \ ■ j ^i. 

to July 2, 1862. mamtamed them- 
selves in the 
neighborhood of Richmond, 
but success seemed far away 
and in August the North- 
ern general skillfully retreated 
toward Fortress Monroe. The 
peninsula campaign was a 
failure.^ 

General Halleck, who, be- 
cause of the rare efficiency of f_ 
his subordinates, had won vic- 
tories in the west, was put in 
general charge of the armies. 
About the same time an army 
was placed under the com- 
mand of Pope, with the intention of operating in northern 
Virginia. In short, the administration in Washington, bit- 
terly disappointed by McClellan's failure, decided to give 
up the peninsula campaign entirely and to send troops 
J T, .., southward from Washington. With this plan in 

Second Battle . ° ^ 

of Bull Run, mind. Pope marched to attack Lee, only to 
August 29, 30, meet with sudden and complete disaster, for 
Lee, ably seconded by Stonewall Jackson 
thoroughly outwitted the Union commander and then, on 
the old battlefield of Bull Run, almost overwhelmed the North- 
ern army. 




^ McClellan was always complaining. He always thought the enemy's 
troops more numerous than they were. He always complained because he 
didn't have shoes, or horses, or guns, or something. He failed too in the 
great test of generalship, getting the whole army into action and hitting 
hard at a critical moment; and yet his soldiers worshiped him. "Little 
Mac" was almost an idol. 



SECESSION AND CIVIL WAR— 1861-1S65 403 

McClellan was again put in full command of the Army of 
the Potomac, including the troops that Pope had commanded. 

He prepared to meet Lee, who had determined 
ulrl^Ind^^ upon an invasion of Maryland. The situation 

was now exactly the opposite from what it had 
been a few months before. In June the Union forces were with- 
in sound of the church bells of Richmond; in September they 
were manoeuvering in the immediate vicinity of their own capi- 
tal to guard it from a Confederate attack. Lee marched north- 
ward across the Potomac into Maryland. Jackson, under his 
direction, bombarded Harper's Ferry and easily took the posi- 
tion with over eleven thousand men, who ought to have been 

either removed or properly re-inforced. Then oc- 
Antietam, currcd the battle of Antietam between the two 

September, , . ... 

1862. mam armies, a nerce contest m which the Union 

forces lost twelve thousand men and more; the 
Confederates nearly as many. The invasion of Maryland 
was a failure, and Lee retreated across the Potomac. McClel- 
lan, perhaps necessarily, allowed him to escape without pur- 
suit. The Union army was soon led forward again to the Rap- 
pahannock. McClellan was then removed, and Burnside put 
in his place. 

Burnside, knowing how much McClellan had been criticized 
because he did not fight with greater dash and vehemence, and 
push vigorously on the enemy, determined to be 
Fredericksburg, aggrcssive. He movcd dowii the Rappahannock 
December, ^o Frcdcricksburg. By this time Lee had manned 
the strong defenses south and west of the town 
with a powerful army, and when the Union troops attacked 
them the slaughter that ensued was horrible. The brave North- 
ern soldiers were mowed down by the thousand, and Burnside, 
overcome with grief and mortification, withdrew across the 
river with a loss of thirteen thousand men. Could nobody 
beat Lee? 

This was the end of a year of dire disaster in the East. 
There had been a long series of defeats. In the peninsula cam- 
paign there had been some clever work and everywhere 



404 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

desperate fighting. Antietam was counted a Union victory, 

and Lee had found that he dared not press farther north; 

but after the second battle of Bull Run and the 

Results of terrible repulse at Fredericksburg, an invasion 

campaign of .... , r ^ V. 

1862. of Virginia and a conquest of the South seemed 

to many a disheartening and impossible task. 
Despite the successes in the west, the winter of 1862-63 was 
a gloomy one in Northern households.^ 

The campaign of 1863 fortunately brought new hope to the 
nation; it gave assurance, in fact, that the South would be 
crushed if the North would persevere. Before examining the 
military events of that year we need to notice some political 
events that gave new character and meaning to the war. The 
North had rushed to arms when the flag was fired upon ; the one 
thought prevailed, that the Union must be preserved. But as 
the months went by it was felt by many that the great curse of 
slavery, which had estranged the South and driven the two sec- 
tions apart, must be done away with as a result of the war. 

President Lincoln hated slavery, and was anxious to see the 
day when the nation would not be cursed with the system. 
T, ,-.• , ^ ■ During the first year of the war, however, he was 

Political affairs. . 

averse to taking any step that would make the 
war to all appearances a crusade against slavery. He knew that 
there was a strong sentiment at the North in favor of immediate 
emancipation, but there was also a strong race 
slaver^ ^ ^ prejudice as well. Moreover, for a long time feel- 
ing in the border States must be regarded, and this 
was, of course, opposed to abolition. It was clear enough to 
Lincoln that slavery could be abolished only by saving the 



1 A study of the map will show the campaign in its main movements: 
(i) The failure to take Richmond by the peninsula route. (2) The at- 
tempt made under Pope to move southward, and his defeat at Bull 
Run. (3) Lee's invasion of Maryland and his repulse at Antietam. (4) 
Burnsides's southern move and the failure of his desperate attack at Fred- 
ericksburg. (5) The general situation in the east not very different from 
that before the first Battle of Bull Run. 



SECESSION AND CIVIL WAR— 1861-1865 405 

Union, and that this, morally and legally, was his first duty. 
Were the South victorious in the war, abolition would be 
impossible. Were the North victorious, then there would 
be a chance for the final extirpation of slavery. So the 
President constantly checked the excited abolition sentiment, 
and impressed on the minds of all that the Union must be 
preserved. 

In March, 1862, he sent a special message to Congress rec- 
ommending the passage of a resolution to the effect that "the 

United States ought to co-operate with any State 
abolishment. which may adopt gradual abolishment of slavery, 

giving to such State pecuniary aid, to be used by 
such State in its discretion, to compensate for the inconvenience, 
both public and private, produced by the change". Congress 
passed a resolution of that nature. But Lincoln could not get 
the slave States that still remained in the Union to listen to him. 
He showed their men in Congress that slavery in the border 
States must before long "be extinguished by mere friction 
and abrasion — by the mere incidents of war"; but his plead- 
ing was in vain. Those States refused to take advantage of 
the National aid thus offered or to take a single step toward 
emancipation. 

Yet the anti-slavery sentiment was growing, and the time 
was near at hand when slavery must go. The enthusiasts 

brought great pressure to bear upon the President, 
prTciamadoir ^^^ ^^ wisely and patiently bided his time. About 

the middle of the summer he drew up a draft of a 
proclamation for emancipation. Shortly afterward he read it 
to his Cabinet. He did not ask the opinions of his secretaries; 
he simply announced his purpose. The measure was a war 
measure, and he intended to shoulder the whole responsibility 
as the commander-in-chief. It is a striking scene in history — 
this plain and simple m.an, bred in poverty, reared in adversity, 
quietly declaring that he intends to strike the shackles from four 
million slaves; that he alone is ready to do the most momentous 
thing done on the American continent since the days of the 
Philadelphia convention. 



406 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

The publication of the emancipation proclamation was de- 
layed for a time, because it seemed wise to wait until the Union 
forces had won a victory, lest the proclamation 
Lincoln waits u-^^ viewed", as Seward said, " as the last measure 

for victory. ' ' 

of an exhausted Government, a cry for help". 
After Lee was beaten back at Antietam, Lincoln decided that 
the time \A'as come. "When the rebel army was at Frederick, 
I determined, as soon as it should be driven out of Maryland, to 
issue a proclamation of emancipation, such as I thought most 
likely to be useful. I said nothing to any one; but I made a 
promise to myself, and (hesitating a little) to my Maker. The 
rebel army is now driven out, and I am going to fulfill that 
promise".! 

On September 22, therefore, the famous proclamation was 
issued. This was only preliminary. It warned the inhabitants 

of the States in "rebellion" that unless they should 
Publication of return to their allegiance before the first day of 
tion, 1862. January, 1863, he would declare their slaves free. 

Of course this announcement had no effect in bring- 
ing back the Southern people to their allegiance, and so, on the 
appointed day, the final proclamation was issued.^ The Presi- 
dent had no legal right to emancipate the slaves on any other 
theory than that he was acting as commander-in-chief of the 
army and navy, and that such action was a legitimate war 
measure. 

The results of this proclamation were of great importance. 
It made it clear to the world that the w^ar was not simply an 
insurrection, but that slavery and freedom were pitted against 
each other; therefore there was no longer any fear of interven- 

1 These words are given by Secretary Chase as the words of Lincoln. 

-The proclamation did not free the slaves in the States, which, though 
holding slaves, did not secede; nor did it do so in all portions of the Con- 
federacy, because there were certain portions there not in actual "armed 
rebellion". Thus it was necessary later to provide for complete emancipa- 
tion. Of course, also, there might be a question concerning the binding, 
legal effect of the proclamation. Notwithstanding all this, the paper was 
one of the utmost significance. From now on the war was openly against 
slavery in the States, as well as to save the Union. 



SECESSION AND CIVIL WAR— 1861-1865 407 



C(7y^pjt4j ^^/^ fl4y4A^XZu, JjaZ::^^ J^/f*^t^^^<^ c^^.c^ 

Lincoln's Draft of the Emancipation Proclamation 



408 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

tion by England or France. It gave the Northern people, that 
were intensely in earnest against slavery, new courage and zeal. 
Of course its great and lasting result was the 
destruction of the whole institution; for, though 
the proclamation covered not the whole South, but only the 
States or the parts of States where the people were in " rebellion ", 
the outcome of the war was now sure to be the complete extinc- 
tion of slavery everywhere in the Union. 

The preliminary proclamation seemed for a time to have a 
bad effect at the North. There was great opposition to Lincoln 
in many quarters; and the elections in the autumn of 1862 were 
not so favorable to the Republicans as was hoped. There was 
a reaction against the President and his poHcy. But as a matter 
of fact, his party in the end gained strength and coherence by 
this frank opposition to slavery. The war had new meaning, 
and in the next year (1863) the tide of success turned strongly 
in favor of the North. Lincoln at no time gave any sign of 
regret or showed any wish to waver. He issued his final procla- 
mation on the first of January, as he had promised. 

At the beginning of 1863 the army in the West under Rose- 
crans was near Chattanooga. Vicksburg and the whole South- 
west were in danger, for the Union army was being 
^— ry.^^"' pushed vigorously forward. In the East, the 
Army of the Potomac, which had fought so bravely, 
had few laurels to display. The navy had shown its great use- 
fulness under the command of able and intrepid men. 

Early in 1863 the Union Army under General Hooker, not 
despairing of pushing on into Virginia and beating Lee, tried 
again, but at Chancellorsville were once more utter- 
^X^i-^iUs ^y routed. Thereupon Lee, as he had done the 
autumn before, again assumed the offensive, 
crossed the Potomac, and marched north, this time even into 
southern Pennsylvania. The opposing forces met at Gettys- 
burg, and there was fought one of the most stubborn and bloody 
battles of the century. Lee's army, flushed with recent vic- 
tories, and confident of success, attacked the Union forces that 
were posted in a strong position south of the town. In spite of 



SECESSION AND CIVIL WAR— 1861-1865 



409 



the desperate valor of the Confederates, they were unsuccessful. 
Meade, who had taken Hooker's place in charge of the Northern 
army, showed talent as a 
commanding officer, and 
his soldiers fought with a 
bravery and determination 
that was a match for the 
splendid impetuosity of the 
Southerners. The Confed- 
erates lost over 20,000 
men in killed, wounded, 
and missing, and the Fed- 
eral army lost 23,000 out 
of their 90,000. The inva- 
sion of the loyal States was 
a failure, and Lee never 
tried it again. Gettysburg, 
with successes in the West 
now to be mentioned, may 
be taken as the turning 
point of the Civil War. It may be considered, indeed, one of 
the great turning points in history. From this moment the 
Confederacy languished; the end of slavery was near at hand.^ 
Meanwhile Grant had determined that Vicksburg must be 
taken. Having made his preparations with his customary care, 
he beat General Pemberton, who endeavored to check his ad- 
vance, and then after trying in vain to take the city by assault, 
began a regular siege of the place. The town was hemmed in, 
and starvation soon threatened it. On July 4 the stars and 




GETTYSBURG 



SCALE t MILE 



1 The assault of a southern force under General Pickett upon the center 
of the Union line was the dramatic scene of the battle, one of the most 
dramatic and the most significant of the war. It took great courage to 
move up that long incline and attack the very center of the enemy's line; 
it took great courage and the Southerners had it; but the assault failed. 
That moment, when Pickett's men reached the summit of Cemetery Ridge — • 
reached it only to be beaten back — is called the high tide of the Confed- 
eracy. What would have happened, if they had succeeded? What would 
have happened if Lee had been victorious at Gettysburg? 



410 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



Chlckamauga, 

September, 

1863. 



stripes floated over the defences of Vicks- 
burg. The Mississippi was open; "the 
Father of Waters rolled unvexed to the 
sea"o Grant had carried on a vigorous, 
daring and offensive campaign. With his 
army well in hand he had taken every 
advantage of his opponents. Elated by 
Gettysburg and Vicksburg, the Northern 
people took new hope; perhaps here was 
a man, that silent soldier from Illinois, 
that persistent and hard fighter, who 
could meet Lee even in Virginia, and win 
a victory. 

We left Rosecrans facing Bragg, who 
had taken a position not far from Chat- 
tanooga at the beginning of 
1863. After some months 
of manoeuvering, the Con- 
federates gave up Chatta- 
nooga and Rosecrans marched in. But 
Bragg was not yet beaten, by any means, 
for he turned on the Union forces at 
Chickamauga and in a great and fiercely 
contested battle completely defeated 
them. Utter rout was saved by Thomas, 
who commanded the left. From begin- 
ning to end his troops fought with rare 
constancy and were superbly handled. 
At the end they were surrounded on 
three sides, but Thomas never thought of 
surrender or flight. Bragg hurled his 
army against the solid array absolutely 
to no purpose. "No more splendid 
spectacle appears in the annals of war 
than this heroic stand of Thomas in the 
midst of a routed army. . . . Slowly 
riding up and down the lines, with un- 



itii, e> 



m 






MTRA. 









ft ninun) 



VEB7 DBFOBTANT. 



OLOBIOITS MEVrS. 

A eauT vicToar 



TenUo and nnparal- 
leled Conflict. 



Tbe Terribls Battle on 
Friday. 



Official Despatch from 
General Heade. 



Tbe Rebela Bepnlsed 
in Every Attack. 



cnnu ncDir lec iimiTEii 



Tbu Bebttl Ocnsrkla Lotur- 

•treet, HiU and ArmiiUkd 

Captured. 

Tbitt ThOBUBd Mart RtbtU TlktB 



The PiiiUant CoiijritiililH 
Ull CouUy, 

THE GREAT BATTLE. 






rz: 

m 



r3 

CUEtAlf 



•mmi 



From the New York 
Herald, July 5, 1863. 

Announcing the Result of the 
Battle of Gettysburg. 



SECESSION AND CIVIL WAR— 1861-1865 411 

ruffled countenance and cheery word, it is his own invincible 
soul which inspires his men for the work they have to do".' 
When he got the opportunity, Thomas quietly withdrew in good 
order, rejoined the right and center, which had been driven from 
the field, and the Union army was ready again for the contest. 
It retained its hold on Chattanooga, and the Confederate army 
prepared to take the place. The situation was almost exactly 
the opposite from what it had been at the beginning of the 
year. 

Grant now took command of the Army at Chattanooga, and 

with his usual energy began at once to operate against the enemy. 

The Confederates under Bragg were strongly 

Chattanooga, posted in a seemingly impregnable position on 

November ,., , i, ,-, . ^ 

23-25, 1863. high ground south and east of the city. Grant 
gave Sherman command of the left, Thomas of the 
center, and Hooker of the right. The battle was marked by 
brilliant generalship and magnificent fighting. Sherman pushed 
eastward and then south against Missionary Ridge. Hooker's 
men fought the wonderful battle above the clouds on Lookout 
Mountain, taking the position and forcing back the Confeder- 
ate left. Thomas was ordered the second day to attack the 
center. His troops were eager. They seized the lower earth- 
works, and then, breaking away from orders, with cheer upon 
cheer they charged up the slope under murderous fire and on to 
the very mouths of the enemy's guns.^ They swept the Con- 
federates from their works. The field was won. One may look 
in history in vain for anything more glorious in war, more dash- 
ing and brilliant, than the charge up Missionary Ridge, Novem- 
ber 25, 1863. 



1 Dodge, Bird's-eye View of the Civil War, p.i8r. ' 

^ "The slopes are hard to climb; strength and ardor are not the same 
in all the assailants. But if the ways differ somewhat, there are seen no 
laggards among them. The boldest of them gathered around the flags, 
each of which they passed from hand to hand as fast as one pays with his 
life for the honor of holding it a moment". (History of the Civil War in 
America, by the Comte de Paris, vol. iv, p. 300.) 



412 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

We need to turn our attention for a moment to the business 

condition of the country and notice what was being done to meet 

the expense of the war. The outbreak of hos- 

Political affairs. . . 

tilities brought great disorder to the North; trade 
was paralyzed. Men found their usual sources of income cut 
off, and many seemed to face privations who had heretofore not 
known want. But the courage of the people rose in the midst 
of need and hardship, and they entered with prodigious energy 
upon the task of supplying their immense army 
conditions. with the sincws of war. They economized in 
order to lend their means to the Government, and 
they met the heavy taxes with cheerfulness. Business soon 
revived, the heavy tariff dues that were laid stimulated manu- 
facturing, and the very destruction of property, while it meant 
a real loss of wealth, made for the time, at least, a demand for 
work. The busy wheels of industry were soon whirling at the 
North. There was no languor and little repining. 

The Government devised various plans of raising the req- 
uisite funds. In August of 1861 a higher tariff law was passed. 
In this year about $150,000,000 were borrowed by 
the sale of interest-bearing bonds. In February, 
1862, an extreme measure was adopted. This was a bill pro- 
viding for the issue of paper currency — the so-called "green- 
backs". These pieces of paper were made legal tender; in other 
words, persons were obliged to accept them as the equivalent 
of money in the ordinary course of business. Of course this 
paper rapidly depreciated. Before the end of the next year a 
dollar in gold was worth a dollar and fifty cents in paper. In 
1864 the premium on gold was still higher, reaching two dollars 
and eighty-five cents in July of that year. The depreciation 
of the paper meant a rise in the price of commodities. 

A year after the passage of the Legal Tender Act Congress 
passed the National Bank Act. This was later somewhat al- 
tered, but has in its essentials remained in force 
Act.*°°* * ^o ^^^^ ^^y- ^^ made provision for the issue of 
circulating notes by banking associations through- 
out the country that were organized in conformity to law. 



SECESSION AND CIVIL WAR— 1861-1865 413 

United States bonds were to be purchased by the banks and 
deposited with the Government; the bank so purchasing was 
then entitled to receive and circulate notes to the value of ninety 
per cent, of the bonds deposited. The notes were guaranteed 
by the Government, which had the bonds for its security. For 
over twenty years the State banks had furnished the paper cur- 
rency of the country. Their notes circulated widely. It has 
been estimated that in 1861 there were as many as ten thousand 
different kinds of notes in circulation. Naturally such a con- 
dition had brought great confusion into commercial transac- 
tions, because some of these notes were valueless, or nearly so, 
while others were good for their face value. By the establish- 
ment of the national banking system a real national currency, 
backed by the credit of the Government, was given to the coun- 
try. Moreover, as associations were formed to take advantage 
of this act, there came a demand for bonds, and this helped the 
credit of the Government, which was thus enabled to dispose 
of its bonds on the market at better figures. About two years 
later, 1865, Congress passed a law levying on the issue of 
State banks a tax so high that it drove their notes out of 
circulation. 

The Government needed to use every expedient for raising 
money. The war was being conducted on such a gigantic scale 
that the expenses were enormous. In addition to 
a direct tax which was apportioned among the 
States, a system of excise or internal revenue was established. 
Before the end of the war these internal revenue taxes were very 
burdensome. All sorts of articles were taxed. Every branch 
of trade or industry was called upon to bear its part of the bur- 
den. The people paid with a willingness that is surprising. 
"No other nation", said a leading English paper, "would have 
endured a system of excise duties so searching, so effective, so 
troublesome". When admiring the loyal bravery of the men 
who went to the front to fight, we need not forget the 
steadfast patriotism of the men who stayed at home and 
supported the Government with unflinching and ungrudging 
readiness. 



414 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

At the outbreak of the war the armies were filled by volun- 
teers; but in the early part of 1863 it seemed necessary to resort 

to other means of obtaining the needed troops. 
'^863^^^'^^' The year 1862, it will be remembered, was not a 

very successful one in the field, and while it is true 
that the great body of the Northern people bore their burdens 
bravely and were willing to support the war courageously, there 
was a goodly number of fault-finders, who pointed to each defeat 
of the Union forces as a proof that the South could never be con- 
quered. There was a general belief that the Government should 
undertake to get men and money in the systematic, businesslike 
fashion in which other Governments were accustomed to pro- 
vide themselves, and not simply to rely upon popular enthusiasm, 
for the result of such reliance must be that the more generous 
and loyal would feel the duty of enlisting, while those who were 
selfish and critical would content themselves with fault-finding. 
An act was therefore passed providing for "enrolling and calling 
out the national forces". Able-bodied men between twenty 
and forty-five were to be enrolled. A certain number of soldiers 
were to be called for, in the future, from each congressional dis- 
trict, and when the quota of a given district was not filled by 
volunteers, drafts were to be made from the enrolled citizens. 
There was much opposition to this act. In July a riot broke 
out in New York city, which for four days was almost completely 

at the mercy of a frenzied mob. Officers of the 
1863 "° ' ^^^ ^^^ innocent citizens were killed ; negroes were 

set upon and slain; property was ruthlessly burned. 
Troops were sent to the city by the National Government, and 
the rioting was put down with relentless energy. Over a thou- 
sand of the rioters were killed before order was completely 
restored. 

Early in 1864 Grant was made Lieutenant General and given 

command of all the armies of the United States. He determined 

to conduct the war in the East himself, and to 

leave the general charge in the West to his tried 

friend and able assistant, Sherman. 



SECESSION AND CIVIL WAR— 1861-1865 



415 



The hammering 
campaign, 1864. 



Grant now decided to move steadily forward to Richmond; 
but the main thing was to defeat Lee and to wear out his army 

or beat it to pieces 

by continual ham- 

mering. Here 
again, to you and me, the details 
of battle are not important. 
The whole early summer was 
one long carnage; Northern 
fathers and mothers looked over 
the papers each morning fearing 
to see a beloved name in the 
columns of dead, wounded, or 
missing; but Grant pressed on, 
losing thousands upon thou- 
sands, and Lee stubbornly and 
ably fought his battles of de- 
fence. Grant would not be beaten: " I propose", he said, 
" to fight it out on this line, if it takes all summer". 
Lee could not be out-generaled, and his men, devoted 
to their superb leader, fought magnificently. Gradually, with 
almost ceaseless fighting, the Union army worked its way south- 
ward, and eastward, until it was not far from the position that 
McClellan had taken near Richmond two years before.^ Then 




/^^^^w-^?fr^ 



^ The early battles were in the Wilderness, a low forest or thicket of 
undergrowth and second-growth trees, extending for miles, and intersected 
by only a few roads by which troops could be moved. In the Battles of 
the Wilderness (May 5-6, 1864) about 17,500 Union men fell and probably 
nearly that number of Confederates. After these battles, Grant moved 
on. " That ", said General Sherman, " was, in my judgment, the supreme 
moment of his life. Undismayed, with a full comprehension of the impor- 
tance of the work in which he was enga.ged, feeling as keen a sympathy for 
his dead and wounded as any one, and without stopping to count his num- 
bers, he gave his orders calmly, specifically, and absolutely, ' Forward to 
Spottsylvania' ". 

The fighting at Spottsylvania was terrible and the losses great; at the 
bloody angle or " hell's half acre " the battle was so fierce that it seems as 
if no one could have escaped the messenger of death; trees were cut down 
by the flying bullets, logs were splintered to pieces, soldiers struggled io 



416 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

by a clever move, and with great skill, Grant threw his army 
across the James and took a position at Petersburg, a strategic 
place of importance, inasmuch as it protected the communica- 
tions of Richmond with the South. If Petersburg could be 
taken, Richmond, it seemed, must fall. 

As to whether Grant was right in hammering at Lee's army 
and losing tens of thousands of men, there may still be a differ- 
ence of opinion. The losses were awful; but how the South 
could have been overcome without beating to pieces or fatally 
weakening Lee's brave army, it is hard to see. If one ever 
indulges in the idea that war is good, let him try to live through 
in imagination the woe, dismay, and heart-breaking sorrow, 
which came to North and South alike in those days of 1864. 

The investment of Petersburg amounted to an investment 

of Richmond itself. Grant was determined to keep his troops 

active and to wear out his opponent by successive 

Grant's aims. . ^^ , r -r ■> 

blows. He desired to get round the end of Lee s 
army and to cut off his communications; and this he tried to 
do, not by using his whole army as before, but by extended 
cavalry raids, which were executed with great vigor and daring. 
Earlier in the summer General Sheridan, with a picked com- 
mand, had ridden completely around Lee's army, and had even 
passed the outer works of Richmond. He was later (August, 
1864) directed to take charge of affairs in the Shenandoah 

hand to hand conflict; prisoners were pulled over the breastworks from one 
side to the other. (See the interesting account in Schouler, VI, 498.) 

The Wilderness, Spottsylvania, and its " bloody angle". Cold Harbor, 
where Grant recklessly assaulted and was driven back with fearful loss — 
these are dark names in American history; for though there was glory, 
there was dreadful bloodshed. Though Lee could not be beaten, after each 
engagement Grant moved — not backward in dismay — but grimly onward, 
advancing by the left, trying as it were, " to get around Lee's right end", 
to get between Lee and the goal line — Richmond and his supplies. Though 
we call it the " hammering campaign", as a matter of fact Grant would 
hammer the line, then, unable to break through, would by a " wing shift " 
or by a flank movement try to get around the end, only to find that Lee's 
forces were there ready to " tackle the runner ". Still, he daily got nearer 
the goal and weakened Lee's army, which could not stand the losses that his 
own could endure with the great force of the North behind it. 



SECESSION AND CIVIL WAR— 1861-1865 



417 




Valley. General Early, a Confederate leader of ability and 
great boldness, after having been within sight of Washington, 
had retired up the valley. Now began an enter-, 
taining game of war. Sheridan had Grant's au- 
thority "to push things hard", and he did so. By 
the end of the summer, after a series of suc- 
cessful conflicts, he had the whole vaUey at 
It was devastated most pitifully. It could 
no more be a highway for those annoying raids which 
had frightened the administration at Washington, and had 
such a demoralizing effect on the courage and, hopefulness of: 
28 



Sheridan in 
Shenandoah 
Valley, August 
to October, 
1864. 

his mercy. 



418 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



Cedar Creek, 
October 19, 
1864. 

Tode upon 
troops to 



the North. In October occurred the famous battle of Cedar 
Creek. Early surprised the Union forces and vehemently at- 
tacked them during Sheridan's absence. They 
had begun to retreat, and, though reforming was 
going on and the day was not wholly lost, there 
was danger of complete defeat, when Sheridan 
the field, and by his magic presence cheered the 
renewed effort. He rode back at full gallop, 
calling out to the straggling fugitives: "Face the other way, 
boys! We are going back to our camps! We are going to 
lick them out of their boots "! And so they did. They made 
a bold counter attack and overwhelmed the enemy. 

Up to this time Mobile had remained in the hands of the 
Confederates. The task of blockading it effectually had proved 
practically impossible. In 1864 it was the one 
opening through which cotton could be exported 
or the much-needed supplies brought in to sustain 
the languishing Confederacy. The harbor was strongly defended, 
but Farragut determined to capture the place and its defenses. 



Mobile, 
August, 1864. 




The Confederate Ram Tennessee 
From the working drawings in the Confederate Collection at Washington 



Lashed to the rigging of the flagship, where he could see all that 
was going on, he directed the movement of his vessels, moved 
on into the harbor, defeated the Confederate fleet and captured 
the forts. The taking of Mobile sealed up the whole South. 
An occasional blockade runner might creep in, or sup- 
plies might be dragged across the plains from Mexico, but 
from now on the South was almost completely thrown on its 
own resources. 



SECESSION AND CIVIL WAR— 1861-1865 419 

In the earlier part of the war several vessels were fitted out 

in England for the use of the Confederate government. Our 

minister at London, Charles Francis Adams, 

The Al3.t)3.ni3. 

called the attention of the English Government 
to the fact that these vessels were building, and asked that they 
be not allowed to leave the harbor. Attention was specially 
called to a ship known as the "290". The government, how- 
ever, did not intervene, and the ''290" got safely off to sea. 
She then assumed the name Alabama, and began, as a privateer, to 
prey upon American commerce. She was a fast sailer, well armed 
and strong, and she did immense damage, capturing and burn- 
ing Northern merchantmen. There were other vessels of the 
same kind, but because of her exceptional success the Alabama 
was especially famous. In June, 1864, a battle was fought off 
Cherbourg, France, between this Confederate cruiser and the 
United States ship Kearsarge. The two vessels 
Kearsl^*e ^^^ '^^^^ ^^ about equal size and armament. The con- 
test was of short duration. The Kearsarge was 
superbly handled, and her fire was deliberate and destructive. 
At the end of an hour the Alabama was totally disabled and 
struck her colors. Before her crew could be taken from her she 
sank to the bottom of the English Channel. Her captain and 
some of her men were taken on board an English vessel and thus 
escaped capture. 

During the career of the Alabama she had destroyed as many 
as sixty-three merchantmen. Other vessels of the same sort, 
especially the Florida and the Georgia, had like- 
uSed States ^^^^ ^^^^ much damage. Our Government filed 
its strenuous protest with the English Government, 
asserting that these vessels ought to have been kept from going 
to sea when it was well known for what purpose they were being 
fitted out. The warnings of the United States Government are 
summed up in the following words from Secretary Seward's 
dispatch to Mr. Adams: " Upon these principles of law and these 
assumptions of fact the United States do insist, and must con- 
tinue to insist, that the British Government is justly respon- 
sible for the damages which the peaceful, law-abiding citi- 



420 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



zens of the United States sustain by the depredations of the 
Alabama". 

During the summer of 1864 a very active campaign was 

fought in the West. Sherman was in command there with a 

stalwart army of one hundred thousand men. The 

Campaign in troops lay just south of Chattanooga facing the 

Tune, 1864. Confederates, who, under General Johnston, were 

at Dalton, Georgia. Sherman succeeded in deftly 



/; IpE N N S Y LV^A N 
O ri I O / • I Gettysburg. -^^--i-ff. 

■\\^ .nohcster .y^y I, j'„S , yft, \° 

WESTl '--^'.^...^'y-V^^' 

R G I N I A ,.' • .' *V.>. ■^■\\ • ' 





Field of the Last Campaigns or the Civil War and the Line 
OF Sherman's March 

manoeuvering the Confederates out of their position, and, with- 
out direct battle, forced them back. Little by little, with a 
toughened army which seemed almost to enjoy the 
septemb«!%64. fearful conflict, he pressed on, pushing the gal- 
lant Southerners before him, and in September, 
after a summer of hard fighting, took Atlanta. 



SECESSION AND CIVIL WAR— 1861-1865 



421 



The march to 
the sea. 



Sherman was still in a dangerous position ; for he had to de- 
pend upon supplies brought a long distance. General Hood, 
who had been placed in command of the Southern 
army in that region before the fall of Atlanta, 
thinking to frighten Sherman out of his well- 
earned position, moved north to threaten his communications; 
but the plan was not successful. Sherman concluded that with 
re-inforcements Thomas, whom he had left in his rear, could 
take care of Hood, and he himself made ready for his famous 
march to the sea. He cut loose 
from his base of supplies and 
marched across Georgia. 
"These troops numbered over 
sixty thousand rugged veterans, 
unhampered by sick or off-duty 
men, with twenty days' rations, 
plenty of beef on the hoof, 
about one field gun per thou- 
sand effectives, and an excel- 
lent canvas pontoon train ".^ 
Early in December he appeared 
before Savannah, and it was 
evacuated shortly after. - 

This great march through 
the very heartof the Confederacy 
was proof positive that the South could endure but a few months 
longer at the best. Sherman had disappeared in the heart of 
Georgia, and when he reappeared at Savannah a great load was 
taken from the anxious hearts of the North. Grant wrote him: 




/1^ 



1 Dodge, p. 287. 

2 December 2 2d, Sherman sent Lincoln the following dispatch (Sher- 
man's Memoirs, vol. ii, p. 231): 

Savannah, Ga., December 22, 1864. 
To His Excellency, President Lincoln, WashtJigton, D. C: 

I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah, with one 
hundred and fifty heavy guns and plenty of ammunition; also about twenty- 
five thousand bales of cotton. 

W. T. Sherman, Major General. 



422 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

"I never had a doubt of the result. When apprehensions for 
your safety were expressed by the President, I assured him with 
the army you had, and you in command of it, there was no dan- 
ger, but you would strike bottom on salt water some place ".^ 

Meanwhile Thomas had been playing a skillful game with 
Hood. The Southern general, venturesome and aggressive, 

marched to the North against Thomas, whose 
crushes Hood rn^in positiou was at Nashville. Thomas was 

cautious and wary. Despite orders from Washing- 
ton and demands from Grant that an advance be made, Thomas 
Nashville, took all the time he wished to make complete pre- 

December, parations and to put his forces in full readiness for 
^^^'^' battle. He then turned upon Hood and crushed 

him.- The war was practically over in the West. 

Political as well as military difficulties surrounded the 
President in the summer of 1864. One would think that the 
^ ,. . , „ . task of carrying on this great war was enough 

Political affairs. i ° ., ... . ° 

Without other cares or responsibilities, especially 
during these dreadful months, when the Union forces were 
indeed pushing on to victory, but at a fearful cost in blood 
and treasure. Though it was clear that under Grant's ter- 
rific blows the Confederacy could not last much longer, Lin- 
coln was surrounded by unfriendly critics. Some of the public 
men of the President's own party were opposed to him, and 
some were making plans to defeat him in the coming elec- 
tion. All through his term he had been troubled 
difficulties. ^"^^ harassed by political squabbles and quarrels, 
but in the spring and early summer of 1864 there 
were new dangers and annoyances. 



1 Sherman, Memoirs, vol. ii, p. 223. 

- Thomas was a Virginian, but refused to follow his State into rebellion. 
He was one of the most successful generals of the war, shrewd, careful, thor- 
ough. He knew not defeat, and always fought with the utmost coolness, 
precision, and energy. He was modest and unpresuming, yet few were so 
competent to command. Dodge says: "He perhaps falls as little short of 
the model soklier as any man produced by this country ". 



SECESSION AND CIVIL WAR— 1861-1865 



423 



Even Secretary Chase had for a time been nursing presi- 
dential ambitions, and his candidacy was urged by many of 
Lincohi's opponents. It was soon proved that 
Lincohi had the people behind him. They sym- 
pathized with him and felt his worth. Chase saw, before long, 
that his candidacy was hopeless; but his relations with the 



Chase resigns. 




The Grave of the Union, or Major Jack Downing's Dream, 

Drawn by Zeke 

A contemporary cartoon of Lincoln and his policies, illustrating the 

t3'pe of criticism levelled at him 

President had become so strained that he gave up his secretary- 
ship. Lincoln showed his magnanimous spirit by making him 
Chief Justice of the United States. 

In May a "mass convention" assembled at Cleveland. It 
was made up of the fault-finders who were out of all patience 
with what they considered Lincoln's lack of vigor 
and administrative power. The convention nom- 
inated John C. Fremont for the presidency, but 
the movement was not taken seriously by the people, and Fre- 
mont finally withdrew, delivering as a parting shot the assertion 



Fremont 
nominated 



•424 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

that Lincoln's administration was "politically, militarily, and 
financially a failure". 

When the Republican Convention met there was not the 
slightest doubt of Lincoln's nomination. The Union people 

of the whole North, in a great many different ways, 
reno^nated. ^^^ announced in unmistakable language that he 

was their only choice. He was nominated unan- 
imously on the first ballot.^ Thus the fault-finding of ambitious 
and quarrelsome leaders and critical newspapers was of abso- 
lutely no avail before the wish of the nation. There was some 
trouble in choosing the vice-president. It was felt by many 
that it would be the part of wisdom to nominate a war Democrat 
— some one who had belonged to the Democratic party before 
the war, but who was now working in harmony with the Repub- 
licans. Because of this feeling Hannibal Hamlin was not re- 
nominated, and the choice of the convention fell upon Andrew 
Johnson, of Tennessee. A platform was adopted declaring in 
favor of the vigorous conduct of the war, and announcing 
" that as slavery was the cause and now constitutes the strength 
of this rebellion, and as it must be always and everywhere 
hostile to the principles of republican government, justice and 
the national safety demand its utter and complete extirpation 
from the soil of the republic". 

The Democratic party nominated Gen. George B. Mc- 
Clellan for the presidency, and George H. Pendleton, of Ohio, 
for the vice-presidency. The convention demanded that 
■"immediate efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities with 
a view to an ultimate convention of all the States, or other 
peaceable means, to the end that at the earliest practicable 
moment peace may be restored on the basis of the Federal 

union of the States". The war was declared a 
nomiMted. failure, and various acts of the President were 

denounced as usurpation "of extraordinary and 
dangerous powers not granted by the Constitution". 



1 The Missouri delegation voted for Grant, but changed this vote so 
that Lincoln could be nominated unanimouslv. 



SECESSION AND CIVIL WAR— 1861-1865 



425 




The election. 



The True Issue; or, "That's What's the Matter" 
(From a poster of 1864) 

The presidential campaign was a very earnest and serious 
contest. The Republicans felt that everything was at stake 
and put forth every endeavor, while the Demo- 
crats were more successful in holding their forces 
together than might have been expected — a result due in large 
part to the fact that McClellan partly repudiated the platform 
by announcing himself in favor of peace, but only on terms that 
would preserve the Union. While the political discussions were 
in progress at the North, Sherman won his great victory over 
Hood at Atlanta. Under such circumstances the declaration 
that the war was a failure lost much of its force. Sherman's 
telegram, "Atlanta is ours, and fairly won", gave new courage 
and great joy to the supporters of the Administration. Lincoln 
was elected by a large electoral majority, receiving two hundred 
and twelve votes against twenty-one for his opponent. The 
Democrats carried only New Jersey, Delaware, and Ken- 
tucky. 

It will be remembered that the Emancipation Proclamation 
declared free all slaves within those parts of the South then in 



426 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

open "rebellion". This was confessedly a war measure — like' 

any other confiscation of property, an act of war. It did not 

destroy slavery everywhere. Moreover, some per- 

Thirteenth g^j^g believed that the President had exceeded his 

Amendment in ..... , , . -^ i 

Congress. authority m issumg such a proclamation, in the 

early part of 1864 a vote on the question of sub- 
mitting a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery was 
taken in Congress. The necessary two-thirds vote could not 
be secured in the House, though the Senate passed the measure 
by a large majority. After the election, carried by the Repub- 
licans on a distinctly anti-slavery platform, abolition assumed 
new strength. The President in his annual message advocated 
the adoption of the amendment. A great debate in the House 
followed. The vote was one hundred and nineteen ayes to 
fifty-six noes — seven rnore than the required two thirds. In the 
homely, truthful phrase of Lincoln, the "great job" was ended. 

It was still necessary that three-fourths of the States should 
ratify.^ But this ratification was assured. This amendment 
declared that "neither slavery nor involuntary 
the°stater Servitude, except as a punishment for crime where- 
of the party shall have been duly convicted, shall 
exist within the United States or any place subject to their 
jurisdiction". Thus the principle of the ordinance of 1787 was, 
in almost the exact words of that document, made applicable 
to the whole Union; the great curse that had separated the 
American people into two bitterly hostile sections was to be cast 
aside for ever. The hopes of the future were for reorganization, 
a re-establishment of sympathy and fellow-feeling between 
North and South, now that the cause of enmity and division 
was no more. As Lincoln pointed out, the amendment meant 
the "maintenance" of the Union. 

In giving this account of political matters we have passed 
by the military events of the winter and spring of 1865, events 



' This was done in the course of the year. In December, 1865, a proc- 
lamation was issued declaring that the thirteenth amendment was added 
to the Constitution. 



SECESSION AND CIVIL WAR— 1861-1865 427 

which made abolition of slavery more than words. Leaving 
Savannah, Sherman marched north through the Carolinas, ha- 
rassed but not long retarded by the Confederates 

Military affairs. '^ .,,,,, t 

under Johnston. Grant still held Lee at Rich- 
mond and Petersburg, and the end was evidently near at hand. 
March saw some sharp fighting along the line; but the Confed- 
Lee and Grant ^^^^^^ ^^^^^ daily growing weaker, and Lee was 

getting anxious to break away and to push south- 
ward and form a junction with Johnston. If this were done, 
Sherman might perhaps be crushed before Grant could get to 
his support. Grant watched Lee with caution and anxiety. A 
few severe and bloody engagements occurred, but without 
bringing the end. Grant handled his immense army with great 
ability, and with full comprehension of his task. Lee fought 
with desperation and his accustomed skill. The Union army 
was steadily winding itself more closely about the doomed 
Confederate army and capital. 

At length Lee slipped away in the night (April 2, 3). Grant 
entered Richmond and began a hot pursuit. The ragged, 

starving, brave, disheartened Confederates made 
April 9, 1865. their way westward, harassed at every step by the 

pursuing cavalry. If they were to escape at all, 
it must be by the narrow strip of land between the Appomattox 
and James rivers.^ But Sheridan planted himself in the way. 
Lee was surrounded. On the 9th of April he surrendered. 
Grant gave generous and wise terms. The Confederates were 
released on parole, "not to take up arms against the Govern- 
ment of the United States until properly exchanged"; the offi- 
cers and men w^ere to return to their homes, "not to be disturbed 
by the United States authority so long as they observe their 
paroles and the laws in force where they reside". In later years 
Grant was charged, perhaps justly, with mistakes and blunders 
especially during his presidency; but both North and South 
will always remember that in the hour of triumph and victory 
he was generous and not vindictive or small. His course was 

' Read Dodge, Bird's-eye View of the Civil War, pp. 313-318. 



428 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

probably influential in pointing out to the North the path of 
wise self-restraint in days of exultation. Johnston surrenderee 
to Sherman on the 26th of April. 



\tu)i-^mttxB, 



^(^^<^. 



^/t/l 9 I865-, ^,<^^ o'clock,^ M. 







By Command of 



Grant's Dispatch Announcing the Surrender of Lee 

The great Civil War was at an end. The North had put 
forth its energy and crushed all opposition, pouring into the 
field an army as large as the fabulous host of Xerxes. The 



SECESSION AND CIVIL WAR— 1861-1865 429 

armies of the East and the West had fought with courage and 
devotion. "All that it was possible for men to do in battle 

they have done", said Grant, and he knew whereof 
endeZ^*^ he spoke. The mistaken South had fought with a 

spirit, a heroism, and a courage that tempt us to 
forget the cause and prompt us only to remember that from 
Key West to the St. Croix all now are brethren of a common 
country. Grant's words in addressing his former comrades in 
arms are well chosen: ''Let them hope for perpetual peace and 
harmony with that enemy whose manhood, however mistaken 
the cause, drew forth such herculean deeds of valor". 

The efforts of the South to sustain the war had been mag- 
nificent. We have seen how dependent the Southern people 

were on outside products. There were few fac- 
the*'south. tories of any kind. The very arms with which to 

fight needed to be smuggled through the blockade, 
or, before the Mississippi was under Federal control, wearily 
brought across Texas from Mexico. After the capture of Mo- 
bile the country was almost completely surrounded. Occa- 
sionally a blockade runner succeeded in slipping through the 
barriers and bringing in supplies from Europe; yet such acci- 
dental aid helped but little. The Confederacy was day by day, 
and month by month, strangled by the toils of the immense 
army and navy that encompassed it. The people fought with 
desperation, and yet we need not believe that all were anxious 
to enter the army; a year before the North resorted to the draft 
the Confederate congress took the same step, and before the 
end of the war it was determined even to enroll slaves as troops. 
Money was almost unattainable. When once the Confederacy 
was shut off from the civilized world, borrowing was practically 
impossible. Paper money was issued by the million dollars, 
"payable six months after the close of the war". This paper 
fell down, down, as the prospects of the Confederacy grew dim- 
mer. In May, 1864, a clerk in Richmond entered these prices 
in his diary: "Boots, two hundred dollars; coats, three hundred 
and fifty dollars; pantaloons, one hundred dollars; . . . flour, 
two hundred and seventy-five dollars per barrel; . . . bacon, 



430 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



nine dollars per pound; . . . potatoes, twenty-five dollars per 
bushel; . . . wood, fifty dollars per cord". 

Thus it was that the South was beaten — not because the 
people could not fight, or because they were not willing to bear 

privation and hardships. History, perhaps, shows 
Slavery de- j^q parallel to the brave constancy of Lee's men in 
s^ou^i. ^ the fearful campaign of 1864-65, when they must 

have seen that under Grant's terrific hammering 
they could not long endure. The men who stayed at home on 
the plantations, and, above all, the women — for they were the 




The Great " Compromise Cartoon " 

First published in Harper's Weekly 

One of Thomas Nast's most famous and successful cartoons 

greatest sufferers from actual want — endured their trials with 
great resolution and cheerfulness. It was not lack of bravery, 
skill, or determination that defeated the South. It was slavery. 
While the lumber, iron, and coal of the North were put to 
service by an intelligent people, whose every industrial suc- 
cess prompted to new energy, the South was laboring un- 
der a destructive system which had been abandoned by 



SECESSION AND CIVIL WAR— 1861-1865 431 

every other part of the Teutonic race; and the fearful pen- 
alty of slavery was civil war and disastrous, overwhelming de- 
feat. 

The Union was preserved. The greatest civil war in history 

determined that the American republic must endure; but the 

cost was enormous. Not counting the men who 

e osses o ^j^^ ^^ home as a result of wounds received 

the war. 

in battle or exposure in the line of duty, over 
300,000 Northern men gave up their lives for their country. 
The loss of the South could have been but little less. From 
all causes the nation lost nearly a million of its able-bodied 
men. 

At the close of the war there were 1,000,516 men in the 
Northern army. The receipts of the Government by taxation 

during the four years were not far from $800,000,- 

Its a wfiil cost* o •' ' > 

000, but this was only a small portion of the amount 
which was expended. Money was spent with lavish profusion. 
The total debt at the end of the war was $2,844,649,626. But 
one cannot count the real cost of these four years 
of destruction, when hundreds of thousands of 
men were taken from remunerative employment, to spend their 
energies in bringing desolation and in killing their fellows. The 
North offered up a great sacrifice for union and for the perpetu- 
ation of the Government. But the sacrifice of the South was 
greater. Figures can give no idea of what it cost the South to 
defend slavery and her chosen constitutional principles. She 
offered up her very life. At the end of the war the whole coun- 
try was desolate. Poverty was the lot of men who had been 
reared in luxury. For four years Virginia had been a battle- 
field. The more southern and western States fared but little 
better. The rebellion had been starved to death; and when the 
soldiers left the army and sought their homes, they were con- 
fronted by want and desolation. The courage with which men 
took up their new lives was no less great than their bravery in 
war. 

The immense Union army of a million soldiers was 
disbanded. The men . went quietly back to the farm, the 



432 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

counting-house, or the workshop. Within a few weeks this 
huge army was absorbed back into the body of the people. 

There was no violence, no license, no riot- 
disban'^d. ^^§' ^^^ Volunteer soldier showed his sense and 

self-restraint by becoming an ordinary citizen 
once more. 

References 

Wilson, Division and Reunion, pp. 219-252; Burgess, The Civil 
War and The Constitution, Volume I, Chapters VII-XI; Volume 11; 
Morse, Lincoln, Volume I, pp. 250-387; Volume II; Lothrop, 
Seward, pp. 262-364; Hart, Chase, Chapters VIII-XII; Storey, 
Charles Sumner, Chapters XII-XVII; McCall, Thaddeus Stevens, 
Chapters VIII-XII; Rhodes, Volume III, Chapters XV, XVI, 
Volume IV; Hosmer, The Appeal to Arms; Hosmer, Outcome of the 
Civil War; Paxson, The Civil War; Schou'ler, History of United 
States, Volume VI. 



CHAPTER XXII 

POLITICAL AND SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION— 1865-1877 

The war was ended. But while the people of the whole 
North were giving themselves up to joy and thanksgiving, there 
came the awful tidings that President Lincoln had 
Limioin^ ° been assassinated. He was shot in his box at 
Ford's theater on the evening of April 14th, by 
John Wilkes Booth, an actor of some repute, who seems to have 
longed for notoriety, and to have sought this dastardly revenge 
for Southern wrongs and sufferings. The same evening Seward 
was assaulted at his home and grievously wounded. Lincoln 
died the next morning. There proved to be a plot, in which there 
were a number of conspirators, whose purpose seems to have 
been the assassination of several of the more prominent men to 
whom the country was looking for guidance. Booth was, how- 
ever, the chief conspirator and the head and front of the enter- 
prise. He was pursued and shot. Several of the conspirators 
were arrested and tried. Four were hanged, three imprisoned 
for life, and one for a term of years. 

The North mourned Lincoln's loss with sincere sorrow. 
There came to each loyal heart a sense of keen personal afflic- 
tion and bitter grief. The "plain people" had 
nadon " ^ comc to know their President, to trust him and to 
love him as no other public man has been loved 
in our history. They felt that his death foreboded trouble, and 
mayhap disaster. Could Lincoln have lived, the great task of 
reorganizing the shattered fabric of the Union might have been 
accomplished without begetting strong partisan bitterness or 
violence; perhaps the long period of estrangement between the 
North and South might have been shortened. Vice-President 
Andrew Johnson assumed the presidency without delay and the 
29 433 



434 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

Government went on with its work. There was no anarchy or 
confusion in the conduct of its business. Republican govern- 
ment never received a severer test. 

The new President was a man of vigor, of strong convictions, 
and of set purposes. He belonged to the poor whites of Tennes- 
see, and had in youth no more training or advan- 
and^character. tages than One of his class was apt to have. He 
had reached manhood before learning even to read 
and write. His determination and zeal, however, carried him 
forward in political life. Before his nomination to the vice- 
presidency he had been in the lower House of Congress, Gov- 
ernor of Tennessee, and United States Senator. By refusing to 
follow his State into secession he had won attention and renown 
at the North. Conscientious and patriotic he was, no doubt; 
but he was narrow, dogmatic, and obstinate. He was a man of 
much native ability, but coming, as did Lincoln, from the most 
humble surroundings, he had not Lincoln's native culture and 
sweetness, nor the faculty of winning men and of feeling sym- 
pathy with them. 

The difficulties that confronted Johnson's administration 

were many and arduous. The South was in a condition of 

poverty, a condition bordering on helplessness. 

The problems rr-ii ^ i c^. j. j. • -i 

of the time. ^ ^^'"^ Were no legal State governments, no civil 
ofl&cers with legal authority to act. Millions of 
men born in bondage were now free, and had no knowledge of 
how to use their freedom, or how to earn their daily bread with- 
out direction. There was not much turbulence, for the negroes 
did not fully realize their new situation, and the whites were 
exhausted after the four terrible years of strife. How could 
order be brought to the weary and distracted South? How 
could industry be established on a new basis? How could the 
relation between the two races be determined? Were the 
States themselves to be allowed to solve all their problems as 
each one saw fit, or was the National Government to intervene 
and endeavor to shape Southern institutions? Was the North 
to take full advantage of its victory, and insist upon raising the 
black man to a place by the side of his late master in social 



POLITICAL AND SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION 435 
■ 
and political right, or was political power to be left solely in the 
hands of the men who had waged war against the nation? These 
were questions of the greatest importance. Some of them only 
time could answer. However much might be done by way of 
legislation, time was needed to bring anything like a solution 
of the new labor problem of the South, or to establish suitable 
social relations between the negroes and whites. 

Moreover, questions arose concerning the right of the Fed- 
eral Government to do anything about the internal affairs of 
the States, or to treat them in any way save as 
difficulties members of the Union, with full rights and privi- 

leges. It was argued, on the one hand, that the war 
had been conducted on the principle that the States could not 
go out of the Union, and it was maintained that, if they could 
not go out, they were now in, on terms of equality with the other 
States.^ But, on the other hand, the leading Republicans now 
declared that the States had, at least to some extent, forfeited 
their rights as States, and that, before they were once more re- 
instated in their constitutional relations, certain reforms should 
be brought about. These men wished to have assurance that 
the war was actually over and that the negro was safe from 
molestation. Some of the leaders — men like Charles Sumner — 
looking upon the war as a great struggle for human freedom, 
were unwilling to consider that the real contest was finished until 
the freemen were given the right to vote and were in possession 
of social as well as political privileges. We need not consider 
at length the legal arguments upon which the Republicans based 
their assertion that Congress had power to declare that the 
Southern States were not immediately entitled to representa- 
tion in Congress or to their full rights as members of the Union. 

1 It will be remembered that the North had begun the war on the theory 
that the States could not leave the Union. The Republicans had declared 
the war an insurrection, an uprising of the people against the Govern- 
ment, and that war could be made on persons to compel their obedience. 
Those who did not agree with them now said: Well, if the States could not 
legally secede they were never out of the Union. Acknowledge therefore 
that they are now entitled to send representatives to Congress and exer- 
cise in full the rights of States. 



436 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

That men did seek to find legal justification for their every ac- 
tion is of interest, because it shows that the people were still 
regardful of legal rights and principles even at the end of the 
greatest civil conflict in history which in many a nation would 
have been destructive of all rights save those of brute force. 
But the North felt that the South must be reorganized, and it is 
of little real moment what was the legal theory or fiction on 
which Congress based its action. Republican plans as to what 
steps should be taken matured somewhat slowly. By no means 
the whole party was ready at first to follow its extreme leaders 
in endeavoring to establish negro suffrage in the South; but the 
whole party did desire that steps be taken to make the safety 
of the freedman certain. 

The President issued (May 29, 1865) a proclamation of 
amnesty, offering to pardon all persons who had been engaged 
in the late rebellion, save certain classes of persons who were 
to apply specially for pardon. All availing themselves of 
the offer of amnesty were to take an oath of loyalty and pledge 
themselves to support Federal laws, including the emancipation 
proclamation. 

At the same time Johnson began his system of reconstruc- 
tion by appointing provisional governors for the Southern 
States. Each governor was authorized to provide 
Johnson's f^j. ^]^g assembling of a convention that would 

reconstruction, alter or amend the State Constitution and provide 
for the establishment of the State in its constitu- 
tional relations.^ 

This plan of the President seemed to give the power into 
the hands of the white people of the South and to make no provi- 
sion for the freedmen. It was therefore opposed by 
It is disliked the great majority of the Republican party, inas- 
Repubiicans. much as they believed in keeping the Southern 
States under the control of the National Government 
until the negro was secure in his rights. The opposition to the 



^ The plan was not essentially different from what Lincoln had advo- 
cated. 



POLITICAL AND SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION 437 

President would not have been so bitter had it not been for two 
things: (i) Johnson showed himself headstrong and utterly lack- 
ing in tact; (2) the Southern States, organized under the Presi- 
dent's direction, began to pass laws that bore heavily upon the 
freedmen — laws that seemed to have the object of making the 
negro to all intents and purposes a slave again. It was quite 
evident that even those acts that appeared harmless might 
easily be enforced so as practically to establish involuntary 
servitude within a State contrary to the Thirteenth Amend- 
ment, which, it will be remembered, was just at this time 
adopted and put in force.^ 

When Congress met in December, 1865, many were annoyed 

at the President's haste, and were determined that the Southern 

States should not be allowed their full constitu- 

Congress takes , , . , . . 

charge of the tional rights Until the negro was fully protected 
Southern from unjust legislation. But when Congress 

passed an act providing for a bureau for the relief 
of freedmen and refugees, Johnson vetoed it. Immediately 
upon the reception of this veto Congress passed a joint resolu- 
tion declaring that no senator or representative should be ad- 
mitted into either branch of Congress from any one of the States 
lately in rebellion until such State was declared by Congress 
entitled to such representation. By this means Congress could 
compel the States to accept certain regulations that were 
deemed essential. An open rupture between the President and 
the party that elected him might have been avoided even yet, 
perhaps, or at least delayed, had Johnson not begun to make 
intemperate and unbecoming speeches, denouncing the Congress 
as "no Congress", and even charging individual members with 
opposition to the fundamental "principles of this Government" 
and with "laboring to destroy them". 

Somewhat later in the session a Civil Rights bill was passed. 
The intention of the act was to establish the equahty of the 
races in the Southern States, to put the freedmen under the 
protection of National law and National officers, safe from per- 

^ December, 1865. 



438 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

secution or molestation at the will or caprice of a State. It 
declared, among other things, that "all persons born in the 

United States and not subject to any foreign i 
Rights' wu. power" were citizens of the United States. This 

act was vetoed, but was promptly passed over the 
veto. Congress was no longer in a submissive mood. 

It was next determined to put the Civil Rights bill into the 
form of a constitutional amendment, where its principles would 

be permanent and safe from violation. The Four- 
Ainendmen^'' tccnth Amendment was therefore agreed upon and 

offered to the States (June, 1866) for adoption. 
It declared that "all persons born or naturahzed in the United 
States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of 
the United States and of the State wherein they reside". It 
declared that no State should make or enforce any law abridg- 
, ^ . ing the "privileges or immunities of citizens of the 

Its first section. /'. , r> ,» l • r i,,-r 

United States , or deprive any person of life, 
liberty, or property without due process of law", or deny to 
any person "the equal protection of the laws". The Republi- 
cans saw that by the freeing of the blacks they had actually 
increased the. political strength of the Southern States, because 
the three-fifths rule^ would no longer apply, but all the negroes 
would be counted in determining the representative population. 
Some were desirous of giving the negroes the suffrage imme- 
diately by National act. Others hesitated. All, 
section. however, desired to prevent the Southern States 

from reaping this political advantage from eman- 
cipation, unless they allowed the blacks to vote. It was there- 
fore decided that, if the negroes were not given the suffrage by 
a State voluntarily, they should not be counted in determining 
the basis of representation. For these reasons the second sec- 
tion of the Fourteenth Amendment was added, providing that 
if the right to vote were denied to any of the male inhabitants 
of a State, being twenty-one years of age and citizens of the 
United States, or in any way abridged, except as punishment 

^ See Constitution, art. i, sec. ii, § 3. 



POLITICAL AND SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION 439 

for crime, the basis of representation should "be reduced in the 
proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear 
to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age 
in such State ". The amendment also provided for excluding 
from Federal and State office the most prominent 

Its third J • iU • . .1 ^ 

section. persons engaged m the war agamst the Govern- 

ment until such disability were removed by Con- 
gress. It was expressly stated that the validity of the National 
debt should not be questioned, but the debts 
se^ction. incurred in and for the rebellion should not be 

assumed by the "United States or any State". 
Such was the Fourteenth Amendment, by far the greatest 
change made in the Constitution since its adoption. There 
was some difficulty, as we shall see, in securing 
It made radical j^g ratification, the Southern States refusing to 

changes in the . i 1 r • ,- , 

Constitution. acccpt it; two ycars passed before it was finally 
ratified (1868), but we may notice at this time 
how it modified the Constitution when once it became a part 
of the fundamental law. Before this amendment was passed 
the subject of suffrage was solely a State affair, as long as the 
State had a "republican form of government". So, too, the 
State had complete control over its citizens and could be as 
tyrannical as it saw fit, provided that it did not interfere with 
the relations between a person and the National Government 
or violate the few express prohibitions in the National Consti- 
tution. By this amendment the nation intervened to protect 
the citizen of the State against unjust legislation or action of a 
State. Thus it will be seen the situation had entirely altered 
from what it was in 1788-90. Then it was thought necessary 
to shield the citizen from the possible tyranny of the National 
Government, and to this end the first ten amendments were 
adopted. 

Meanwhile the controversy between the President and 
Congress waxed hotter. Johnson vetoed the most impor- 
tant bills, and Congress passed them over his veto. In this 
way, in the course of a year, the most essential measures 
were made law for the purpose of carrying out the con- 



440 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

gressional idea of "reconstructing the Southern States". 

In spite of the President's objections, a measure known 

as the Freedmen's Bureau bill, providing for 

President and ^^le relief and assistance to the Southern negroes. 

Congress in -kt i i i • • i • i 

open enmity. became law. Nebraska at this time was admitted 
to the Union. 
In March, 1867, Congress passed the Civil Tenure bill. 
This provided that a person appointed to office by the President 
and approved by the Senate should hold office till 
OfficeJet. another person was appointed to the position with 

approval of the Senate, and that members of the 
Cabinet should hold office for the term of the President appoint- 
ing them and one month thereafter, "subject to removal by 
and with the advice and consent of the Senate ". An officer 
might, however, be suspended while the Senate was not in session, 
and the place given for the time being to some other person.^ 

During the fall and winter (1866-67) the Southern States, 

perhaps encouraged by the quarrel between Johnson and his 

party, rejected the Fourteenth Amendment. As 

Congressional , , • 

reconstruction. ^ conscquence new reconstruction measures were 

determined upon and duly enacted. Congress 

provided for the division of the South into five military districts, 

each to be in the charge of a general aided by "a sufficient 

1 By this time there was much ill feeling on both sides. The "radicals" 
of the Republican party detested Johnson and were determined to have 
their own way. Pupils are often perplexed by the difficulty of seeing what 
the trouble really was about; such is often the case when we look back upon 
times of bitter controversy. The "radicals" disliked the "rebel" and all 
his works. These were the stern men who had lived through the experiences 
of the war. Thaddeus Stevens, the radical leader in the House, was espe- 
cially hard and bitter. He believed that since the South had raised the cup 
of secession to her lips, she should be made to drink it to the dregs, and the 
Southern States should be allowed to send men to Congress as soon as Con- 
gress was ready to receive them and not before; in the meantime they 
should be treated as copquered territories. Johnson, in his tactless way, 
insisted that the Southern States had rights; and, though at first feeling 
bitterness toward the South, he became daily more considerate, much to 
the disgust of the radicals, so that Stevens and the great bulk of the 
Republicans hated the President lustily. In all such matters it is difficult 
to see just where exact justice lay. Men were too excited to see justice. 



POLITICAL AND SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION 441 

military force ". This officer was to keep order and to have 
wide powers of government. Under his guidance a State was to 
elect a convention, adopt a constitution granting the suffrage 
to blacks and whites alike, and ratify through its legislature 
the Fourteenth Amendment. When this was done and ap- 
proved, the State was to be allowed representation in Congress. 
In the summer of this year (1867) Johnson requested the 
resignation of Stanton, his Secretary of War. The two men 

were incompatible, and Stanton had long been 
impeached. ^° hostile to Johnson and his policy. He refused 

to resign, and Johnson suspended him. When 
the Senate met it refused to agree to this suspension. The 
President then removed Stanton from office. The ill feeling 
was now so great that the Republicans determined to resort 
to impeachment to get rid of their obnoxious executive. In 
March, 1868, articles of impeachment were presented by the 
House at the bar of the Senate, the chief charge being violation 
of the Tenure of Office act by the removal of Stanton. The 
trial lasted nearly two months. Chief Justice Chase presided 
with dignity and impartiality. The ceremony was watched 
with interest and curiosity in America and Europe. The result 
of the trial was acquittal, for the majority lacked one vote of 
the necessary two thirds. Seven Republican senators, believ- 
ing that the President should be entitled to remove his subor- 
dinates and not sympathizing with the intense and bitter par- 
tisanship of the radicals, voted against conviction. It is now 
generally believed that impeachment was unwise and that con- 
viction would have been unjust. 

Before the end of 1868 most of the States were fully re- 
established in their constitutional relations or "readmitted to 

the Union". Provision had been made for the 

states are .... 

"reconstructed" admission of Tennessee soon after the close of the 
by congressional war. North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, 
Alabama, Louisiana, and Arkansas were admitted 
to representation in Congress in 1868. Seward was enabled to 
announce, July 28, 1868, that the Fourteenth Amendment had 
become part of the Constitution. 



442 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

The Southern States during these years and for some time 
afterward were in an unfortunate condition. The more influ- 
ential white men were kept out of office by the 
govermnents. Congressional policy because they had taken part 
in the war. This left the control of the conven- 
tion and the legislature, when once civil government was estab- 
lished, to the more ignorant white people and to the negroes, 
who had no fitness for the difficult tasks that needed attention. 
Men from other States came upon the scene and became political 
leaders, taking advantage of the ignorant blacks to win for 
themselves power and influence. These men were called "car- 
pet-baggers". The governments set up under their direction 
were incompetent and woefully corrupt. Doubtless some of 
the Northern men who went to the South at this time were 
neither corrupt nor influenced by unworthy motives, but so 
many were merely unscrupulous adventurers, quite devoid of 
principle, that all were called "carpet-baggers" and looked upon 
with suspicion. The Southern people were in their turn intoler- 
ant, and occasionally guilty of outrages against Northern men. 
The ill feeling between the sections, therefore, had as yet dimin- 
ished little, if at all. The white people under negro and "car- 
pet-bag" rule were bitter in their hatred of Republican recon- 
struction, while every month seemed to harden the Northern 
leaders in the belief that the "ex-rebels" were not to be trusted. 
Several difficult and interesting foreign questions arose dur- 
ing Johnson's administration. Soon after the beginning of our 
^ . „ . civil war France had sent troops into Mexico, 

Foreign affairs. ^ ' 

overthrown the republican government there, and 
established an empire, with Maximilian, an archduke of Austria, 
as emperor. During the war Seward had cautiously protested; 
but now that there was peace at home, France was given very 
distinctly to understand that the presence of her troops in 
Mexico was obnoxious to the United States. Our Government 
has for many decades held the opinion that European countries 
must not extend their systems in this hemisphere against the 
will and wish of the American Union. ^ Upon receiving the per- 

^The Monroe Doctrine. 



POLITICAL AND SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION 443 

emptory demand from Seward, Napoleon III withdrew his 
army. The luckless Maximilian, left to his fate, was captured 
by Mexican troops, tried by court martial, and shot. 

In 1867 the United States bought Alaska from Russia for 
$7,200,000. This purchase added 531,409 square miles to the 
National domain. In the eighty years that had 
purchase. clapsed sincc the formation of the constitution the 

territory of the Union had increased fourfold. In 
1787 it was 819,815 square miles. After the purchase of Alaska 
it was 3,501,509 square miles.^ 

No less important than other events of this stormy admin- 
istration was the final laying of the Atlantic cable. In the 
The Atlantic summer of 1 866 the cable was laid and used. The 
^^^^^- commercial and political importance of this frail 

connection between America and Europe can hardly be over- 
estimated. Trade was put on a new basis, for the condition of 
the European markets could be read in New York each morning. 
The political relations between the Old and the New World 
were simplified. 

For the election of 1868 General Grant seemed the only 
possible candidate for the Republicans. The party contained 
many able leaders with far more political expe- 
^868^'^'^'*°'^ °^ rience, but he was the center of interest and at- 
tention. The quiet, relentless determination with 
which he had carried on the war had completely captured the 
public imagination. He was unanimously nominated on the 
first ballot in the convention, amid great demonstrations of 
enthusiasm. Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana, was nominated for 
the vice-presidency. The platform congratulated the country 
on the success of the reconstruction policy of Congress; it 
pledged the party to maintain equal suffrage for all loyal men; 
it denounced Andrew Johnson and his methods, and promised 
the payment of military bounties and pensions and full payment 
of the National debt. The Democrats nominated Horatio 
Seymour, of New York, and Francis P. Blair, Jr., of Missouri. 

1 These figures are somewhat differently given by different authorities. 
The United Stafes census gives the total area, without Alaska, as 3,025,601. 



444 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

The platform demanded immediate restoration of all the States 
to their rights in the Union, amnesty for all political offenses, 
economy and reform in office. It arraigned "the Radical 
party" for its "unparalleled oppression and tyranny", appealed 
to all patriots to unite in the "great struggle for the liberties 
of the people", and declared that Johnson was "entitled to the 
gratitude of the whole American people". The result of the 
election was at no time doubtful. There was great enthusiasm 
for Grant at the North, while at the South the electoral vote 
was in nearly every State cast for the Republican candidate, 
because the freedmen were all of that party, and many of the 
white men were not allowed to vote. Grant received two hun- 
dred and fourteen electoral votes and Seymour eighty. 

Before closing the account of Johnson's administration we 
should notice that something had been done to reduce the im- 
mense war debt, and that the nation was in many 
perity" ^'°^' ways prospcrous. The highest point that the debt 
ever reached was in the summer of 1865, when it 
amounted to the enormous total of $2,844,649,626, a burden of 
$84 on each person in the United States. In 1869 it amounted 
to $64.43 per capita. The nation showed remarkable powers 
of recuperation, after the long and destructive war. 

When Grant ^ took the presidential chair he was met with 
diflSculties. The times were trying ones. One can hardly 

^ General Grant was at this time almost entirely without political expe- 
rience and without training in civil duties. He was a graduate of West 
Point, and had served with distinction in the Mexican War. At the out- 
break of the rebellion he occupied a humble position as a private citizen. 
His success as a general gave him world-wide reputation, and he was hailed 
by the enthusiastic North as the savior of his country. He was a man of 
strict, unswerving honesty, and of pure motives. He was direct and inci- 
sive in his methods of thought and action. It may be doubted whether his 
talents, that so well fitted him for conducting a great aggressive war, were 
equally well adapted to the no less difficult tasks of peace. Downright 
and upright himself, he was not always successful in winning and holding 
the best men of his party by giving them frank confidence; nor did he have 
great insight into the weaknesses of the men about him. These character- 
istics account, in part, for some of the difficulties of his administration. 



POLITICAL AND SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION 445 

imagine greater or more troublesome tasks than those confront- 
ing the American Government in these years. The people 
were undoubtedly showing a remarkable capacity 
the timT ° ^^^ self-government and self-restraint. They sub- 
mitted quietly to the payment of enormous taxes ; 
they were honestly and without ostentation bent upon paying 
the great war debt with all reasonable speed. A million soldiers 
who had been quietly absorbed into the peaceful community 
seemed to have forgotten military arts or ambition. And yet 
the period was full of difficulties. There were grave interna- 
tional questions to be settled, and internal problems that called 
for wise solution. Not till about 1871 were all the Southern 
States in possession of their full constitutional rights, with the 
right to send senators and representatives to Congress, and even 
when politically "reconstructed" they were of course internally 
still in some confusion. Moreover, the North continued to 
keep troops in the South, a source of continual humiliation to 
the Southern people. A reconstruction of sentiment between 
North and South could come only in the course of years, as the 
result of generous fair-mindedness in the one section and sensible 
self-control in the other. In many ways the war had brought 
disorganization into the National Government; the details of 
administration, which are of the utmost importance in time of 
peace, could not be carefully watched and guided in time of a 
great civil war. Furthermore, the war had had a demoralizing 
influence in some respects. It is true that it called forth patri- 
otism and stirred men's hearts to lofty motives; no war that is 
waged for country and to free millions of human beings from 
slavery can be, on the whole, bad in its effects on the moral make- 
up of the nation. But war is brutal, and its brutality is apt to 
leave the curse of selfishness and greed behind it. The great 
mass of the people were honest and moral ; but the troublesome 
time of war encouraged some men to believe that it was legiti- 
mate to take advantage of the Government and to get rich by 
stealth at the public expense. 

Scarcely had the Fourteenth Amendment been adopted, 
when the Republicans decided that negro suffrage must be 



446 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN IfATION 



secured and not left to the option of the States; for that Amend- 
ment, it will be remembered, allowed the States to determine 

for themselves what the basis of suffrage should 
Amendment ^^' ^^ ^^^ right to vote Were denied to any of 

the male citizens twenty-one years old, or in any 
way abridged, the basis of representation in Congress might 
be cut down. ^ With the intent to make negro suffrage every- 




DlSTRIBUTION OF POPULATION IN 1870 

where obligatory the Fifteenth Amendment was drawn up 
and submitted to the States for adoption. It declared: "The 
right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be de- 
nied or abridged by the United States or by any State on 
account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude". 
Secretary Fish announced, March 30, 1870, that it had "be- 
come valid to all intents and purposes, as part of the Constitu- 
tion of the United States". 

The acceptance of the Fifteenth Amendment as part of the 
fundamental law of the nation did not do away with the troubles 



^ The Fifteenth Amendment did not repeal the second section of the 
Fourteenth; but the second section has never been enforced. 



POLITICAL AND SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION 447 

and distress that grew out of the rebellion. The corruption of 

the carpet-bag governments, built on negro suffrage, was proof 

enough that slavery had been a poor schoolmaster 

Corruption in f^j. fj-gedom. Some of the blacks quickly learned 

the Southern . .... ,^ ■' 

States. the Vices of politics, and showed remarkable apti- 

tude in the art of reaping personal advantage from 
oflSce. The States that had been impoverished by four years 
of war were plundered ruthlessly; enormous debts were rolled 
up by extravagant and dishonest legislation. In South Caro- 
lina, where negro rule long prevailed because of the great number 
of blacks, the debt increased from about $5,500,000 in 1868 to 
over $20,000,000 in 1873. Some other States suffered almost 
as much. 

The Southern whites determined that negro rule must be 
ended by some means, lawful or unlawful. It seemed to them 
a matter of self-preservation. This feeling is well 
Opposition to illustrated by the statement of a citizen of South 
government. Carolina : " To take the State . . . away from the in- 
telligent white men and hand it over bodily to igno- 
rant negroes just escaped from slavery . . . was nothing less 
than flat burglary on the theory and practice of representative 
government ". In some of the States the negroes were in a minor- 
ity; and where that was the case the government soon passed into 
the hands of the white people as a simple result of united action 
on their part. In other places, however, deplorable methods 
were adopted. The poorer and more ignorant white men, who 
had been reared amid the degrading influences of slavery, could 
not appreciate that the negro had rights that they were bound 
to respect. The luckless blacks were harassed and harried. An 
oath-bound order under the name of the Ku-Klux-Klan, throw- 
ing a veil of secrecy and mystery over all its doings, appeared 
here and there throughout the South, terrorizing the supersti- 
tious negro and overwhelming him with awe and dread. It is 
difficult from any evidence that we have to determine the exact 
origin or extent of the Ku-Klux movement. To Northern men 
it seemed that the whole South was conspiring to make national 
law inoperative, and to rob the negro of his rights. It was some 



448 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

years before the lawlessness and violence were stamped out. 
The intelligent people of the South finally united in efi'orts to 
put down this open violence and to establish order, for they saw 
that there was a direct issue between law and anarchy. 

Because of these conditions in the South, Congress under- 
took to pass repressive measures. A series of acts, known as 

"Force bills". "^^^^^ ^^^^^''' ^^^^ passed (1870-72), the pur- 
poses of which were the protection of the negro 
in his new privileges and rights. The President was given au- 
thority to suppress insurrection, whenever the State officers 
were unable or unwilling to do so, and was also authorized, for 
a limited time, to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas 
corpus. The federal courts were assigned wide jurisdiction over 
cases in which persons claimed they had been deprived of rights, 
privileges, or immunities under the Constitution of the United 
States. These measures were deeply resented at the South. 
The Southerners felt ready to manage their own affairs; and, 
in fact, realizing the danger of tumult, were already moving to 
suppress disorder. For some time after this it seemed to the 
President necessary to use the Federal troops in order to secure 
free and fair elections in the Southern States. 

From the outbreak of the rebellion and the acknowledgment 
by Great Britain of the belligerency of the Confederacy our rela- 
tions with that country had been somewhat 
trouble^ "^ Strained. Upon Grant's accession there were se- 
rious difficulties that demanded immediate settle- 
ment. Our Government asserted that England had not done 
her duty as a neutral; that it was her duty to use diligence in an 
effort to prevent the arming or equipping of any armed vessel 
within her limits, and to prevent the departure of such a vessel ' 
to cruise against the commerce of a friendly nation; that like- 
wise a belligerent should not be permitted to make use of neutral 
ports as bases of naval operation or for the purpose of getting 
military supplies; and that Great Britain had been remiss in its 
duty, inasmuch as the Alabama and other Confederate cruisers 
had been fitted out in English harbors to prey upon American 
commerce even after the ministry had been given fair warning 



POLITICAL AND SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION 449 

as to the character and purpose of the vessels. We insisted, 
therefore, that damages should be paid for the resulting 
injuries. 

Fortunately the two countries were wise enough not to make 
more havoc by fighting over their differences. In 1871 a treaty 
between the two powers was signed at Washington, 
Wa^shington." agreeing that all matters of dispute should be sub- 
mitted to arbitration. The Alabama claims were 
to be passed upon by a court of five arbitrators appointed by 
Great Britain, the United States, Italy, Switzerland, and 
Brazil. 

This tribunal met at Geneva, Switzerland, and made a care- 
ful examination of the whole controversy. The American Gov- 
ernment contended that our losses included more 
The Geneva than the actual destruction of merchantmen and 
1871-72. cargoes; they included heavy national expendi- 

tures in the pursuit of the cruisers and, moreover, 
" indirect injury in the transfer of a large part of the American 
commercial marine to the British flag, in the enhanced pay- 
ments of insurance, in the prolongation of the war, and in the 
addition of a large sum to the cost of the war and the suppres- 
sion of the rebellion". The arbitrators refused to allow com- 
pensation for the more indirect or remote damages, but awarded 
to the United States $15,500,000 in gold as an indemnity to be 
paid by Great Britain in satisfaction for all claims. 

By the Treaty of Washington it was also agreed to leave to 
the Emperor of Germany as arbitrator the settlement of a dis- 
pute over the Northwestern boundary. In 1846 
Northwestern ^]^g jjj^g between the American and British posses- 
the fisheries. sions had been defined as following along the forty- 
ninth parallel "to the middle of the channel which 
separates the continent from Vancouver's Island; and thence 
southerly through the middle of the said channel and of Fuca's 
Straits to the Pacific Ocean". A question had arisen as to 
where the middle of the channel was. The German Emperor 
decided in favor of the claim made by the United States. The 
Treaty of Washington made provision for the settlement of dif- 
30 



450 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

ficulties that had arisen concerning the Northeastern fisheries. 
In 1877 a commission met in Halifax and awarded to England 
the sum of $5,500,000. 

It was plain by this time that to compel the Southern people 

to observe the new amendments to the Constitution fully svas 

a difficult if not an impossible task. To accom- 

Dififerences in pijsh anything by force, constant armed interven- 

the Republican . ■' ^ ■ . ' r , , 

party. tion was a necessity. But many felt that the 

Government had already gone too far; that the 
only sensible course was to leave the South alone; that as long 
as Federal troops were stationed there Southern resentment 
would continue in all its bitterness, and that the people could 
never be won back to affectionate loyalty by main force. They 
felt that the fundamental principle of local self-government was 
being dangerously disregarded. Some Republicans had become 
antagonistic to Grant personally. They believed that he had 
shown rare incapacity for civil duties, arid that he was surround- 
ed by men who were greedy if not corrupt. A division in the 
Republican party was likely to come sooner or later, because it 
was in reality a composite party, made up of men who were not 
apt to think alike on many questions. When once" the great 
task of carrying on the war was over, the different elements in 
the party began to show their natural tendencies. 

The feeling of dissatisfaction with existing conditions 
showed itself in the Liberal Republican movement of 1872. 
The men who became interested in it were those 
Republicans. Republicans who found themselves out of sym- 
pathy with the administration, out of patience 
with the management of Southern matters, and eager for "re- 
form" in civil office. Many, too, wished a reduction of tariff 
duties and other economic changes. A national convention 
held at Cincinnati nominated Horace Greeley, of New York, 
for President, and B. Gratz Brown, of Missouri, for Vice-Presi- 
dent. A platform was adopted charging "the partisans of the 
administration assuming to be the Republican party " with ar- 
bitrary and unpatriotic conduct toward the South, and with 
selfish and unscrupulous use of power. The new party demanded 



POLITICAL AND SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION 451 

immediate reform in public oflfice and the re-establishment of 
civil rule without military interference in the Southern States. 
The Democrats, having no issue to present, found them- 
selves fairly well in accord with the principles of the Liberal 
, ^ Republicans. The platform and candidates were 

The Democrats. '^ , , , ^ . ^_ . , 

therefore accepted by the Democratic National 
Convention. A few Democrats found it impossible to accept 
the nomination of Greeley, who had been for years an ardent, 
enthusiastic Republican, given to the use of very plain language 
in his condemnation of the Democracy. This faction placed a 
straight Democratic ticket in the field; but the movement was of 
no avail, inasmuch as the nominees refused to be candidates. 

The Republicans renominated Grant, and gave the second 
place on the ticket to Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts. Many 

persons were still fearful of any backward step in 
Grant the management of the Southern question. There 

renominated ... i /~. i r- 

and elected. was a Strong feeling, too, that Greeley was unnt 
for the presidency. A high-minded, honest man, 
with strong purposes and noble aims, he was impractical and vis- 
ionary. He was in his place when he was appealing to the na- 
tion's conscience, or discussing in racy, telling phrases the moral 
duties of government. But he had almost no experience in 
public ofl&ce, and was without aptitude for the duties of admin- 
istration. Grant and Wilson were elected by an overwhelming 
majority. Greeley died before the presidential electors met to 
cast their ballots. 

Grant's second administration was not very eventful, nor 
does it differ in character materially from the first. Some of the 
troubles that had arisen from the rebellion had 
The Southern passed away. Somc of the great problems had 
remains. been solvcd, but much still remained to be done. 

The Southern question was still a pressing one. 
How far should the Southern States be allowed to manage 
elections and all internal affairs without molestation from the 
Central Government? This was the difficult problem of the 
time. The Republican party was, on the whole, in favor of 
keeping such control that the amendments could be enforced 



452 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

throughout the South. But the country was in reality growing 
weary of interference and longing for quiet. 

In a number of the Southern States, as we have seen, the 
Government had already passed into the hands of the Demo- 
cratic party. Where that was the case there was 
• t ^'* »• „ little trouble, but the amendments were more or 

intervention. ' 

less evaded. Where Republican governments 
held power great disturbance and imending controversy pre- 
vailed. Disputes often arose over the action of the returning 
boards, whose duty it was to canvass the votes and report the 
results. The Democrats declared that the boards were illegally 
made up, or that they fraudulently "counted out" the Demo- 
cratic candidates. The Republicans charged their opponents 
with endeavoring by violence and intimidation to suppress the 
negro vote. When such quarrels broke out the President would 
send troops to quiet disturbances and to establish authority; 
but he grew tired of the continuing disorder.^ 

A very noticeable feature of those years was the number of 
political scandals that came to light in the National Government. 
In 1872 it was publicly charged that prominent 
Republican officeholders had taken bribes from a 
company known as the Credit Mobilier.^ An investigation 
was made into all the charges, and resulted in finding clear proof 
of the guilt of two congressmen, one of whom had been the com- 
pany's chief instrument for furthering its interests by under- 
hand and corrupt methods. The investigating committee rec- 
ommended the expulsion of these men, but the House contented 

1 The situation in Louisiana was especially bad. The Constitution pro- 
vided (art. iv, sec. 4) that "the United States shall guarantee to every State 
in this Union a republican form of government. " This clause furnished 
the legal justification for interference on the part of the National Gov- 
ernment. 

" This corporation was organized under a charter from the Pennsylvania 
Legislature. It received through roundabout and corrupt methods immense 
profits for the construction of a portion of the Union Pacific Railroad. 
"The Credit Mobilier was, in short, the first, greatest, and most scandal- 
ous of the 'construction companies' which have since . . . made bankrupt 
so many railroad enterprises. " Merriam, Life and Times of Samuel Bowles, 
vol. ii, p. 225; see also Dunning, Reconstruction. 



POLITICAL AND SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION 453 

itself with " absolute condemnation " of their conduct. Happily 
the ablest leaders to whom dishonesty had been imputed were 
exonerated by an examination of the facts. 

Other scandals than the Credit Mobilier were soon unearthed. 
It was found that a great conspiracy had been formed for the 
purpose of cheating the Government in the coUec- 
rin^"'^i875^ tion of the internal-revenue tax on distilled liquors. 
This "whisky ring" included men high in power 
and influence. Through the untiring energies of Mr. Bristow, 
the Secretary of the Treasury, the criminals were hunted down, 
the ring broken up, and a number of the guilty punished. 

About this time articles of impeachment were brought by the 
House against William W. Belknap, the Secretary of War. He 
was charged with receiving bribes, and there was 
Secretary of ^q doubt of his guilt. To escapc couvictiou he 
J876, ' hastily resigned his office, and then denied that 

the Senate had the right to consider charges against 
a person who was no longer a " civil officer of the United States".^ 
The trial was nevertheless begun, but did not result in convic- 
tion. Most of those voting in favor of acquittal said that they 
did so because they believed that the Senate had no jurisdiction. 
Just at the close of Grant's administration Congress passed 
an act increasing the salary of the President, members of Con- 
gress, and other officers. It provided that the 
Salary grab, president should receive fifty thousand dollars in- 
stead of half that sum, as heretofore, and that 
members of Congress should receive seven thousand five hun- 
dred dollars instead of five thousand dollars. This Congress 
was nearly at an end, but, regardless of that fact, the act de- 
clared that its members should receive the increased salary for 
the two years just closing. Great indignation was aroused in 
the country by this calm appropriation of the public funds. 
Some members paid back the money into the Treasury to ap- 
pease their own consciences and to help quiet the tumult. The 
next Congress repealed the act, save such portions as provided 
for increased pay to the President and j ustices of the Supreme 

1 See Constitution, art. ii, sec. 4- 



454 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

Court. It must be said that previous Congresses had passed 
similar laws and made them retroactive. But the people now 
thought, without distinction of party, that the "salary grab" 
was an unworthy example of avarice and greed. 

For some years after the war the business interests of the 
country seemed to prosper. It was a period of great enterprise. 

Railroads were built and extended out of all pro- 
187^*'"*^° portion to the needs of the population; all kinds 

of industries appeared to be thriving; men entered 
boldly into new undertakings. The war seemed rather to have 
stimulated industry than to have checked it. But the day of 
reckoning was sure to come. The finances were not in a good 
condition, inasmuch as paper money still circulated and no law 
had been passed providing for payment in specie. 1 Commerce 
was therefore built on an uncertain foundation. In 1873 '^ great 
commercial panic swept over the country. Enterprise and wild 
speculation were sharply brought to a standstill. Factories 
were closed and the usual suffering ensued among the poorer 
people, who were thus deprived of means of livelihood. Many 
men seemed to believe that the need of the hour was more 
money, and Congress passed a bill for the increase of the cur- 
rency. Grant vetoed the measure, because he thought that 
such action simply aggravated the evil. In 1875 a law was 
passed providing for the redemption of the "greenbacks" in 
. . coin on the I st of January, 1870. When that day 

Resumption. ■■,■,, . ,, . . 

arrived the 'resumption of specie payment was, 
as we shall see, entered upon without difficulty. 

The Republicans nominated Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio, 

for the presidency, William A. Wheeler, of New York, was 

selected for the vice-presidency. The platform 

Republican ^f |-}^g party gavc no indication of any change or 

Convention, . i / • ,• , • i r ^ ^ 

1876. material advance m policy, but it spoke out frankly 

in favor of resumption of specie payment. 

^ In 1869 a bill was passed known as a bill "to strengthen the public 
credit", wherein the United States "solemnly" pledged itself "to make 
provision at the earliest practicable period for the redemption of the United 
States notes in coin". 



POLITICAL AND SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION 455 

The Democrats nominated Samuel J. Tilden, of New York, 
and Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana. Tilden wis a man of 
great native ability, a lawyer of wide reputation 
Com-ention ^^^ skill. As govemor of his State he had relent- 
lessly attacked the corrupt Canal ring and the 
groups of thieving officials that were plundering the treasury of 
New York. The platform of the party was largely made up 
of a series of demands for "reform". It denounced the "finan- 
cial imbecility and immorality" of the Republicans, and de- 
manded the repeal of the Resumption Act of 1875. 

There were two other parties in this campaign, the Green- 
back party and the Prohibition party. The former demanded 
the repeal of the Resumption Act, and declared 

Other parties. i i • r ,- 

themselves m favor of a paper currency con- 
vertible on demand into United States obligations". In other 
words, they did not want gold and silver as money, but pieces 
of paper stamped by the Government and issued at its discretion. 
The Prohibitionists were in favor of making the liquor trafi&c 
wholly illegal. 

The result of the election was doubtful, so doubtful that 
people were in consternation and perplexity. Tilden received 

one hundred and eighty-four electoral votes; only 
Result of Qjjg more was needed to elect him. From four 

election o i /-. i • -i->i • i t • • 

in doubt. States — South Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, and 

Oregon — contradictory electoral certificates were 

presented, one set announcing that Republican electors had 

been chosen, the other that Democratic electors had been 

chosen. In each of the three Southern States there was a 

returning board, to which the results of the election from various 

parts of the State were reported, and whose duty it then was to 

declare the result. All through reconstruction 

boa^rds "'^'""^ times thesc boards had exercised a wide discretion, 

for they were backed in some of the States by 

National troops. They were wont at times to cast out the votes 

of some precincts on the ground that the election had been 

fraudulent; and in this way the reconstructed governments had 

perpetuated their power. The Republican State governments 



456 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



felt that only in this way could they keep the Democrats from 
gaining control of the State by stealth or violence and intimida- 
tion. The temptation for the returning boards to use their un- 
restricted authority willfully and corruptly was very great, and 
it is plain enough that to leave the decision of an election with a 
group of men whose interests prompt them to defend their own 
authority is practically to make popular government a nuUity. 
The whole situation was one of the unfortunate results of the 




1 Iliujes (Rep.).. .163 ^J 

j Tihlen (Detn.) iS4 
I Disputed 22 



The Election of 1876 



distrust and ill feeling that naturally ensued after the war. 
Now in this election the Florida and Louisiana returning boards 
cast out the vote of certain precincts as tainted with fraud, and 
declared the Republican electors chosen. The Democratic 
electors also obtained certificates, in Florida from a Democratic 
member of the returning board, in Louisiana from the Democrat- 
ic candidate for governor, who claimed his own election. From 
South CaroHna there were double returns, the Democrats claim- 
ing that the presence of Federal troops had interfered with the 
freedom of the election, and that they had been wrongfully 
counted out. In Oregon a postmaster had been chosen elector, 



POLITICAL AND SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION 457 

and the question arose as to whether he was qualified to sit, 
being a Federal officeholder."^ 

The situation was grave. Up to this time Congress had 

neglected to make suitable provision for the settlement of such 

disputes and difficulties. As the Democrats had 

The Elector majoritv in the House and the Republicans in 

Commission. . 

the Senate, it was clear that some unusual means 
of solving the question must be found. It is quite possible that 
the correct legal rule is that the Vice-President is given the duty 
of counting the votes in the presence of both houses, and can 
determine the validity of the votes himself, without interference 
or direction from Congress. But Congress had for years pro- 
ceeded on a different theory, and had assumed its own right to 
settle disputes. It was determined, therefore, that an extraor- 
dinary commission should be appointed and charged with 
determining the validity of the votes in question. The commis- 
sion numbered fifteen. There were five members from each 
house of Congress and five justices of the Supreme Court. The 
hope was to secure a commission that was non-partisan. ^ But 
the chief responsibility was thrown upon Justice Bradley, who 
was chosen by the other justices as the fifteenth man. He voted 
with the Republicans, and the commission therefore made its 
decision by a vote of eight to seven in favor of the Hayes' electors. 
The basis of the opinion of the majority was that the findings 
of the returning boards were final, that the duty of the commis- 
sion was to decide what were the legal returns from the States 
in contest, and that it was not its duty to investigate the merits 
of controversies within the States, which were by right left to 
the local authorities. Thus it was determined that Hayes was 
elected. Both candidates behaved with great decorum and as 



^ See the Constitution, art. ii, sec. i, § 2. For the whole controversy, 
Wilson, Division and Reunion; Dunning, Reconstruction: Political and 
Economic, pp. 92-108. 

^ The Senate appointed three Republicans and two Democrats, the 
House three Democrats and two Republicans. Four justices were appoint- 
ed, two Republicans and two Democrats. The four justices selected the 
fifth. 



458 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

true patriots through these trying days. Excited as the men 
of both parties were, there was not much feeling of uneasiness 
or fear in the country at large. When the decision was an- 
nounced the defeated party accepted defeat. This whole affair, 
then, was a victory for free government; it showed that the 
Americans possessed the prime requisite for self-government — 
self-control. "It has been reserved ", said President Hayes, 
"for a government of the people ... to give to the world the 
first example in history of a great nation, in the midst of a strug- 
gle of opposing parties for power, hushing its party tumults to 
yield the issues of the contest to adjustment according to the 
forms of law". 

References 

Burgess, Reconstruction and the Constitution; Wilson, Division 
and Reunion, pp. 254-287; Storey, Sumner, Chapters XVIII-XXV; 
McCall, Stevens, Chapters XIII-XVI, X\TII; Dunning, Recon- 
struction, Political and Economic; Rhodes, History, Volume V, Chapter 
XXX; Volumes VI, VII; Ha worth, Reconstruction and the Uniot,^ 
pp. 1-8O0 



CHAPTER XXIII 



THE NEW NATION— PARTY STRIFE— 1877-1885 



Rutherford B. 
Hayes. 



Not much was known by the people at large of the real 
ability and character of Rutherford B. Hayes when he entered 
upon the duties of the presidency;^ but, as events 
showed, he was well qualified for the tasks that 
met him. While it is doubtless true that he was 
not a man of great intellectual brill- 
iance, he combined in a rare degree 
mental and moral qualities — firmness, 
purity of purpose, wisdom, conscien- 
tiousness — qualities that were spe- 
cially needed at a time when the 
nation, leaving behind it in large 
measure the memories of civil con- 
flict and sectional hatreds, was ready 
to move on to new duties and 
achievements. The great need of 
the day was quiet bravery, not osten- 
tatious vigor. The years were years 
of healing; they were fortunately un- 
eventful. When the next election 
came, it was felt that the trouble- 




1 He was born in Ohio and spent his life there. Having served with 
distinction in the civil war, he was elected, at its close, as a representative 
in Congress. In iS68 he was chosen governor of his State. Again, in 1875, 
he was elected governor, and his success in the election of that year gave 
him something of a national reputation. He was by nature so modest and 
unpretentious that, in spite of the fact that he had held a number of public 
ofhces and had been honored by the confidence of his State, one may doubt 
if even the people of Ohio knew him at his full value or appreciated his 
strength. 



459 



460 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

some days of reconstruction were gone; that, although there 
were jealousies and heartburnings still, North and South were 
once more growing together in national feeling and spirit. 

One of the President's first acts was to withdraw the troops 

from the support of the Republican governments in the Southern 

States where such governments still retained power. 

Withdrawal of jjjg -^vords are so momentous, as they indicate a 

troops from , 

the South. different policy on the part of the Federal author- 

ity, that they deserve quoting: "In my opinion 
there does not now exist in that State [South Carolina] such 
domestic violence as is contemplated by the Constitution as the 
grounds upon which the military power of the National Gov- 
ernment may be invoked for the defense of the State. There 
are, it is true, grave and serious disputes, . . . but these are to 
be settled ... by such orderly and peaceable methods as may 
be provided by the Constitution and laws of the State. I feel 
assured that no resort to violence is contemplated in any quarter, 
but that, on the contrary, the disputes in question are to be 
settled solely by such peaceful remedies as the Constitution and 
the laws of the State provide". So at length the Southern 
States were left to themselves.^ 

With the withdrawal of the troops from the South, the 

period of reconstruction was ended — so far as ordinary relations 

between the States and the National Government 

New problems. 

were concerned, although years were to pass be- 
fore the South was to feel at ease or forget the bitterness 
of the time when negroes were in control of their State govern- 
ments and Federal troops were posted here and there, as if the 
Southerners were still plotting destruction to the Union. 



1 Of considerable interest are the new constitutions of a number of the 
Southern States, the first of the list adopted by Mississippi in 1890, pro- 
viding new qualifications for voting, providing for example that a voter 
must be able to read the Constitution or understand it when read to him. 
The "grandfather's clause", declaring that descendants of persons hav- 
ing the vote at or about the time of the Civil War should have the suffrage, 
assures the retention of the suffrage by some whites who might by other 
terms of the Constitution be prevented from voting. 



THE NEW NATION— PARTY STRIFE 461 

Henceforward, the tasks that confronted the American people 
were no longer those of slavery or secession; those problems were 
gone; but a free people are never free from troubles that tax 
their wisdom and patience, (i) The war had left the money 
question to be settled; the scandals of Grant's administration 
showed that rascals could take advantage of the Government, 
and rob the people by stealth; (2) many politicians of the day, 
backed by the mass of the Northern people, who had risen to 
put down the war and who were loyal and devoted to their party, 
were at times unworthy the trust reposed in them; (3) great in- 
dustrial enterprises which sprang into existence soon after the 
war, in part encouraged by tariff protection or by government 
aid, were bringing on new problems for settlement; (4) the 
building up of the large cities and the big factories brought dif- 
ferences between laborer and capitalist. For a generation and 
more social and industrial problems were continually becoming 
more pressing, and back of them all was the need for clean poli- 
tics, for decent party management, for high-minded appre- 
ciation of duty in the management of party affairs. 

The uneasiness of the people on the money question had not 
been put at rest by the passage of the Resumption Act, nor yet 

by the utter defeat of the "Greenback" ticket 
probrems. ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ clcction. Some people felt that recent 

legislation on money matters had been in favor of 
the bondholders, and had disregarded the needs of the people. 
A law had been passed in Grant's first term pledging the Govern- 
ment ultimately to pay the bonds in coin. In 1873 silver was 
demonetized — in other words, the United States mint was no 
longer to coin silver dollars. The silver dollar was then rarely 
seen in circulation, because it was of more value than the gold 
dollar, and was therefore exported to Europe, where the silver 
was worth more as bullion than here as coin. There was so 
much silver in it that, at the market price of the bullion, it was 
worth one dollar and two cents in gold. At this same time an 
act was passed ordering the coinage of the so-called "trade 
dollar." This coin was intended not for domestic circulation, 
but to be used in trade with the Oriental nations, and it was not 



462 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

made a legal tender. After 1873, however, the silver mines of 
the country began to turn out greatly increased quantities of 
ore. The opening up of these mines is a matter of great moment 
in our industrial as well as in our financial history, for the new 
West was now rapidly building up, with silver as a chief product. 
There was a demand for the recognition of this metal in the 
national coinage. In 1878 the Bland-Allison Bill was passed by 
Congress, providing for the remonetization of silver. According 
to the terms of the act, the Government was to buy each month 
not less than two million dollars' worth nor more than four mil- 
lion dollars' worth of the white metal, and to coin this bullion 
into standard dollars. This dollar was made legal tender, and 
was to be of the same weight and fineness^ as before 1873, ^^~ 
though now silver was of much less value on the markets of the 
world than before its demonetization.^ President Hayes vetoed 
the bill, but it was passed over his veto. Thus ended the first 
important discussion over the silver question. A final solution 
of the problem was not reached. 

We have already spoken of the need for resumption of specie 

payments (1875); the land was still full of paper money, and 

though it daily became more valuable, more nearly 

Resumption of q^ q^ p^j^j. ^^yith gold and silvcr, as the credit of the 

specie payment, _^ 

igyp. Government grew stronger, it was necessary to 

take the final step and carry out the plan of redemp- 
tion. The country could not go on in uncertainty. The act 
of 1875 provided for a return to specie payments on the first 
day of January, 1879 — providing, in other words, for the re- 
demption of the ''greenbacks" in coin. Preparations were 
made, during the course of Hayes's administration to resume 
payments on the day set. Gold and silver coin and bullion 
were collected in the Treasury, and so complete and thorough 

1 By fineness is meant the purity of the coin — that is to say, the amount 
of silver or gold in proportion to alloy. The standard silver dollar con- 
tains 900 parts pure silver and 100 parts copper alloy, and weighs 41 2 J 
grains. The gold coin is of the same fineness. 

2 It is to be noticed that since 1870 a number of the European states 
had given up the use of silver as a standard money. 



THE NEW NATION— PARTY STRIFE 463 

was the preparation, that when the time of resumption arrived 
there were only a few straggling demands for coin; the paper 
was already at par, for when people knew they could have coin 
for their paper, they were contented to take the paper for 
ordinary purposes. 

In 1879 an interesting controversy arose between the Presi- 
dent and Congress. The intention of the Democrats in Congress 

was to restrain the Federal Government from in- 
President and tcrfcring in the affairs of the Southern States, or 
variance. from making use of the Federal troops to guard 

elections or to protect the blacks. In February, 
1879, the House passed the Army Appropriation Bill with a 
''rider" directed against the use of troops "to keep peace at the 
polls", and also passed other appropriation bills with riders that 
repealed the essential parts of the general election law. The 
Senate refused to pass the bills and they did not become laws. 
A new Congress came into existence March 4. A special session 
was summoned. Both branches were now Democratic. Vari- 
ous appropriation bills were passed with riders, ^ the purpose of 
which was to curtail the power of the General Government in 
its control over elections. The Democrats declared that their 
purpose was simply to erase from the statute books the legisla- 
tion which the war had produced, for which there was now no 
need, and which was an insult to the States and a menace to 
local government. The Republicans, in irritation, asserted that 
the Democrats were intent upon "starving the Government to 
death." The President vetoed the bills with the riders, saying 
that a rider was an attempt on the part of the House to force 
the other branches of the Government to agree to undesired 
legislation. Congress could not pass the bills over the veto. 
Some of the appropriations were then made without the rider, 
out the bill providing for the payment of the Federal judiciary 
was not passed, and all the court officials went without pay until 

^ A rider is a clause attached to an appropriation bill and referring to a 
different subject than the main body of the bill, the object being to force 
the measure on the other house or the President by annexing it, or "tack- 
ing" it, as the English say, to appropriations for needful purposes. 



I 



464 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

provision was made for them at the next session. This contest 
between the President and Congress is of much interest. What- 
ever one may think of the purposes of the Democrats, Hayes 
seems to have been quite right in maintaining that the practice 
of adding riders to appropriation bills is productive of much 
mischief, and that if continued it would throw nearly all legis- 
lative power into the hands of the House, because it alone can 
originate bills for raising revenue, and has assumed the sole 
power of originating general appropriation bills. 

As the election of 1880 approached, the Republican party 

seemed to be in good condition, and might reasonably hope for 

success, but there were serious internal dissensions. 

The Republican tt > !••>.• 111 

pgjjy Hayes s admmistration had been wise, conserva- 

tive and honest. The country was prosperous. 
There were still a good many irreconcilable paper-money-men, 
who wished to have plenty of money in circulation and thought 
that coin was the rich man's money, but the resumption of 
specie payments and the general good times made the money 
question a matter of secondary importance. If the leaders had 
been united, all might have gone on smoothly in the Republican 
ranks; for party machinery, developed to a high degree of effect- 
iveness during the previous twenty years, was masterful. The 
party was backed by the great body of the Northern people, 
honest, straightforward and loyal to the men who had led the 
country through the war and the trying days that followed. It 
was backed, too, by the business elements, some of them at- 
tracted by the tariff and some by the belief that the party stood 
for sound money and wise business administration. 

Party management and the use of party machinery to win 
victories was no new thing; there had long been committees and 
leaders and workers, but by 1880 the party ma- 
machinery. chinery had reached a high stage of development. 
The general growth of the country, the intense 
interest of the people in political controversy, the bitterness of 
party strife, the presence of business interests that believed 
they needed party support, all contributed to the power of the 
men who controlled the party machinery. 



THE NEW NATION— PARTY STRIFE 465- 

We see now that the management of parties, even though- 
the fact was not realized by the men of the time, was one of the 

serious questions which must be met and answered, 
methods '^^^ mechanisni of the Republican party was nearly 

perfect, and there began to be criticism of "ma- 
chine men" and "machine methods", by which conventions in 
city, county or state could be controlled by a handful of political 
workers, and by which elections could be strangely decided. 
Of course, the machine was not used in all cases corruptly, even 
if it was used to carry out the purpose of a few party leaders. 
Many high-handed men were shrewd political workers in con- 
trol of one duty or another in the party organization; but too 
often the machine worked ruthlessly, trusting to the support 
of the faithful partisans at the polls and sometimes relying on 
corrupt methods to carry the candidates into ofifice. It is dif- 
ficult to speak of this condition truthfully in a few words; the 
situation was different in different parts of the country; some 
men were scrupulously honest; some were not. But at all 
events there was ground for complaint. Party leaders, con- 
trolling funds and managing great numbers of workers, would 
use their power under the direction of the men who furnished 
the money for the party warfare. It must be remembered that 
party organization^ is always necessary; committees must ar- 

1 In a presidential campaign the most important body of each party is 
the National Committee; it is composed of a member from each State; one 
member is chosen by that State delegation to the National Nominating 
Convention. It has general charge of the campaign, the collection and dis- 
tribution of funds. The Congressional Committee, appointed by the party 
members of Congress, has charge of the campaign for the election of con- 
gressmen. In each State the party has a committee and there are gener- 
ally committees in cities and counties and even in wards. All the way 
down through from the national government to the smallest local units, 
committees and workers look after the party interests. There is nothing 
wrong in this; one of the best results of popular government is the educa- 
tion that comes from the earnest discussion of public questions; to promote 
this discussion is part of the work of the party. But "machine methods" 
mean ruthless disregard of the wishes of the common man of the party, 
the misuse of the organization in the election of candidates without refer- 
ence to fitness, and they may involve the grosser forms of corruption in the 
31 



466 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

range for speakers; efforts must be made to hold or convert the 
uncertain voters; the "vote" must be got out to the polls. But 
there is always a temptation to use devious or actually corrupt 
methods to win. 

The spoils system was in full operation; party workers were 3 
given positions in the government, not because they were fit to 
hold office, but because they were useful to the; 
system "organization"; office-holders gave portions of 3 

their salaries at the dictation of the party 
leaders or of bosses, and places of profit in the govern- 
ment were sure to be turned over to shrewd party workers. 
In this way the spoils system furnished a method by which 
salaries, supposed to pay for public services, were used in 
part to provide funds for party contests and to win success. 
Naturally that party, which for the time being controlled the 
government, had the advantage; their opponents could not 
assess the office holders, they could only make promises. Addi- 
tional funds for campaign victories came from contributions 
given by those who honestly believed that party success was 
essential for national prosperity or who hoped for privileges 
from the incoming government or desired to have influence over 
the administration. 

Among the leaders of the Republicans was John Sherman, 
who was Hayes's Secretary of the Treasury; James G. Blaine of 
Maine, known as the magnetic statesman; a man 
leaders'*^*" of ability and of over-weening ambition, a great 
favorite with the main body of the people because 
of a certain personal charm and a power of winning speech; Ros- 
coe Conkling of New York, an orator and political boss, who 
controlled the party in New York, and was looked on favorably 
by the most thorough-going partisans because of his skill as a 
manager of party machinery. The Conkling faction wished the 

effort to control the purchasable vote. It is plain that when the party 
organization is in the hands of corrupt men or of men who are anxious to 
control the party for their own benefit, everything may go wrong. A 
people cannot really be free unless they control the machinery of the 
party. 



THE NEW NATION— PARTY STRIFE 467 

election of General Grant ; they had no sympathy with the quiet 
man in the presidential chair, whose careful administration had 
brought honor to himself and to his party — he was too quiet, 
too firm. Their leader, Conkling, detested Blaine, for Blaine 
was a dangerous rival and once, in a controversy in Congress, 
had called the pompous New Yorker a "turkey-cock", a name 
so appropriate in some ways that it hurt.^ The Convention 
of 1880 was torn by factions; three hundred and six delegates, 
under the imperious leadership of Conkling, voted, ballot after 
ballot, for Grant; but finally James A. Garfield of Ohio and 
Chester A. Arthur of New York were nominated. The Demo- 
crats nominated General Winfield Scott Hancock of Pennsyl- 
vania and William H. English of Indiana. Candidates were also 
placed before the people by the Prohibition party and the 
Greenbackers. 

By this time the tariff question, which had been debated 
time and again in the decades gone by, was beginning a new 
phase of its history. A tariff act had been passed 
during the war to gain revenue, and though 
altered at times after the war, the duties were still high. Under 
the protection offered by high duties, manufacturing plants 
had been growing rapidly and waxing powerful. General in- 
dustrial conditions rested in considerable measure on the 
tariff; a sharp reduction of rates would be sure to destroy some 
factories, and at the best would demand serious readjustment.^ 
It was also argued in behalf of the tariff, that high wages of 
workingmen depended on the maintenance of rates, for the tariff 
would keep out foreign goods or, by increasing their price, 
enable the American manufacturer to pay the larger wages. 



^ Conkling later retorted, when asked to support Blaine for the 
presidency, that he did not indulge in criminal practice. It is evident 
that there was no love lost between the two men. 

-The manufactured products of the United States were valued at $1,- 
850,000,000 in i860; ten years later their value was considerably over twice 
as much; and in 1880 their value reached the sum of $8,000,000,000; a 
development which meant much in the whole industrial and social order. 



468 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

The Democrats now attacked protection, demanding a "tariff 
for revenue only"/ while the Republicans came out strongly 
for protection. For the first time since the war the two parties 
were radically opposed on the tariff question, which was to 
remain more than any other one issue the basis of difference be- 
tween them for a generation. Garfield and Arthur were suc- 
cessful in the election. ^ 

There was not much dispute among the Republicans during 

the campaign; the first thing was to win the election. But 

when the victory was won, strife broke out anew, and more 

openly than before. The radical element of the 

Factions in party, which had been strongly in sympathy 

the Republican *^ . , ' , , . . . , , , i • , i • 

party. With Grant s administration and had desired his 

nomination for a third term in 1880, were known as 
"Stalwarts". They had objected to the conciliatory spirit of 
the Hayes administration. Their opponents were commonly 
called "Half-breeds", a term of contempt bestowed upon them 
because of their supposed lukewarmness and their faint-hearted 
devotion to Republican principles. As the differences were 
largely personal, the issues between the two factions were not 
very clearly defined. The leader of the "Stalwarts" was Conk- 
ling, then senator from New York. 

Garfield seems to have sought to reconcile both factions, 
or at least not to arouse the enmity of the "Stalwarts".^ In 

1 That is, a tariff with rates of duty determined primarily to get reve- 
nue and not keep out foreign goods or to protect American manufacturers 
against foreign competition. 

" Few men have taken the presidential chair whose training for execu- 
tive duties had been so wide and various as was Garfield's. Graduating 
from college in 1856, he became a professor in Hiram College, Ohio, and 
soon after president of the institution. He served in the Union army, be- 
coming major general. He was elected to Congress during the war, and 
served as a member of the House from 1863 to 1880. He was a man of 
broad general culture, of scholarly tastes, and of unusual capacity as a 
debater and legislator. He was elected senator from Ohio in 1880, but was 
chosen to the presidency before taking his seat as senator. 

' Garfield's appointment of Blaine as Secretary of State was very dis- 
tasteful to Conkling; Blaine could not justly be called a lukewarm partisan 
— though he was called a "half-breed" — the ground of Conkling's dislike 



THE NEW NATION— PARTY STRIFE 



469 



The courtesy of 
the Senate. 



this he was not entirely successful. By appointing to the col- 
lectorship of the port of New York a man not acceptable to 
Conkling he awakened the resentment of that 
senator. For some years it had been thought 
to be the right of the senators to dictate the more 
important appointments within their respective States. This 
principle the President had violated. To carry out and sub- 
stantiate this right and prerogative Conkling and his colleague 
in the Senate, Thomas C. Piatt, resigned, appealing, as it were, 
to their State for ratification of their conduct in resisting the 
President. The Legislature, however, refused to re-elect the 
two senators. 

Perhaps these heated controver- 
sies and the consequent excitement 
in political circles 
Assassination of brought about indi- 

the President, ,^ , . , r i 

July, 1881. rectly the death 01 the 
President. A hare- 
brained fanatic by the name of 
Guiteau came to Washington as an 
applicant for oflEice. As he did not 
meet with success, his mind seems 
to have been preyed upon by his 
failure and inflamed by the politi- 
cal discussions with which the air 
was heavy. He became imbued 
with a hatred of the President, 




was personal. Their petty squabbles do not furnish pleasant reading, but 
they were not unimportant; they disclose to us a condition of things in 
which office-holding and the right to dictation and rule within the party 
appeared more important than real, vital issues of principle; and yet at that 
very moment the wise management of the government, the care for the 
public domain, the control of the railroads, a thousand delicate tasks 
demanded attention — if the warring political leaders had only seen them, 
or if the people had bade them cease their noise and consider their duties. 
How different would have been the condition of the country to-day if the 
men in the eighties had fully comprehended the meaning of the changing 
and developing business life of the time, and had ceased their quarrels! 



470 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

and cherished the idea that his death would unite the party. 
On the morning of July 2d, as Garfield was entering a railway 
station in Washington, Guiteau shot him. For some time 
hopes were entertained that the wound was not mortal, but 
after enduring great suffering with fortitude and hopefulness the 
President died, September 19, 1881, at Elberon, N. J. The 
people of the entire country, and indeed of the civilized world, 
were deeply affected by this awful tragedy and crime. 

Vice-President Arthur took the oath as President at his 

home in New York, September 20, 1881. When he was elected 

Vice-President no one knew much of his qualifi- 

Accession of catious for office. He had taken a prominent and 

Chester A. 

Arthur. activc part in politics, and had been for some 

years collector of the port of New York. He 
proved during his term of office to be a man of rare administra- 
tive ability and pure purposes, and soon won the respect and 
confidence of the nation. 

The trouble between Garfield and the New York senators, 

and, above all, the assassination of the President, called the 

attention of the people to the evils and follies of 

The civil-service , , m > t . • i 

commission. ^"^ spoils systcm. In two successivc annual mes- 
sages Arthur argued strongly and wisely in favor 
of civil-service reform, and pressed upon the attention of Con- 
gress the desirability of new legislation regarding appoint- 
ments to office. In January, 1883, Congress passed an act 
known as the "Pendleton Act", authorizing the President to 
direct that appointments should be made after competitive 
examinations. He was also empowered to establish a civil- 
service commission. The President put the act immediately 
into effect, and since that time the regulations have been 
gradually extended by his successors, until at the present time 
a very large portion of the ofiices in the gift of the Government 
are bestowed not as a reward for party fealty, but after an 
examination made for the purpose of discovering the merit of 
the applicants and their respective fitness for official duties.^ 

^ Properly to care for the civil service was also a duty for states and 
cities. The spoils system was not confined to the national government — 



THE NEW NATION— PARTY STRIFE 471 

The prosperity of the country was so great during these 
years, and importations for foreign countries were so large, 
that the public moneys derived from the duties 
the'tariff. "^ *" accumulated in the Treasury until the Government 
actually had more money than it knew what to do 
with. The immense public debt rolled up by the war was 
rapidly being paid; but the bondholders, resting secure in the 
credit of the Government, were not willing to receive payment 
for their bonds until they were due. It seemed desirable to 
many persons that the tariff duties should be lessened, because 
the surplus was unnecessary, and might be even harmful by 
encouraging public extravagance, if not corruption. A new 
tariff law was passed that slightly reduced the duties. In 1884 
still another bill was introduced into the House. It was a 
Democratic measure and was supported by the main body 
of the party, but it was defeated by the combined votes of the 
Republicans and a small number of Democrats who were 
opposed to the reduction of the tariff. 

For some years there had existed, especially in the Pacific 
States, a strong sentiment against the unrestricted immigra- 
tion of the Chinese. The increasing number of 

Exclusion of the . . .17 j j. >• > > 

Chinese. immigrants had caused consternation, not to say 

alarm, in parts of the West, and it seemed de- 
sirable to take steps to restrict the immigration. In 1880 a 
treaty was made at Peking between the Chinese Government 
and a commission from the United States, providing that this 
country might place restrictions upon the entrance of laborers 
from China. Two years later a law was passed by Congress 
suspending the right of Chinese workmen to come to this 
country for the period of ten years, and in 1892 the period of 
exclusion was extended for another term of ten years, and 

it was in vogue everywhere. Little by little the various states began to 
provide for a merit system based on examination, and city governments 
established their commissions. The problem is by no means solved; but 
there are few men now who openly advocate that responsible positions 
requiring practice and skill should be given solely as a payment for party 
fealty. 



472 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

severe and strict regulations were provided to prevent the 
breach of law. 

The presidential canvass of 1884 was a very stirring one. 
The Republicans nominated James G. Blaine and John A. 
Logan; the Democrats, Grover Cleveland and Thomas A. 
Hendricks. There were two other parties that put 
188^^.^^*^' candidates in the field. The "People's party", 

which was really to a great extent the old Green- 
back party rechristened, nominated General Benjamin F. 
Butler, and the Prohibitionists John P. St. John. The tariff 
was the main issue. The Republican platform declared for a 
continuance of the protective system, while the Democratic 
platform announced that the party was "pledged to revise the 
tariff in a spirit of fairness to all interests ". To some men in 
his party, Blaine was not an acceptable candidate; they dis- 
trusted him ; they doubted his honesty. Ugly stories were told 
about his relations with interests that wanted legislative favors, 
and his explanations did not satisfy. Blaine sneered at the 
"noisy", "ambitious", "pharisaical ", "pretentious" people 
who were too good to associate with ordinary mortals, but his 
fine phrases did not help him much. The "mugwumps", as 
these Independent Republicans were called, counted among 
their number some of the ablest men in the country who had 
long been staunch Republicans.^ The result of the election 
turned upon the vote of New York. Outside of that state, 
Blaine had 182 electoral votes, and Cleveland 183. The contest 
in New York was so close and the outcome so doubtful that 
it was not known for several days after the election which one 
of the candidates was elected. It was finally determined that 

1 There is still some difference of opinion as to whether Blaine was 
guilty of some of the more serious charges brought against him. The facts, 
so far as we know them, look rather black, but the awakening suspicion of 
secret understanding between Government and corrupt men who desire 
profitable favors was the most important fact of the whole episode. Blaine 
remained for some years the most conspicuous man in the party; but it was 
a hopeful sign that even suspicion of personal honesty made accession to 
the presidency difficult if not impossible. 



THE NEW NATION— PARTY STRIFE 473 

the Democrats had carried the state by a little over a thou- 
sand votes. Thus Cleveland was chosen by an electoral 
majority of thirty-seven. 

References 

Wilson, Division and Reunion, pp. 289-300; Sparks, National 
Development, Chapters VI-XVII, XIX; Dewey, National Problems, 
Chapter II; Haworth, Reconstruction and the Union, pp. 80-119. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

THE BEGINNINGS OF MODERN INDUSTRIAL AMERICA 

1859-1903 

We have, in the last chapter, carried our story down through 

twenty years of intense political feeling; and we have seen a 

Democrat, for the first time since 1856, elected to 

The change from ^.j^g presidency. We should be far wrong, however, 

simple indus- 11, ^ ^ > • , ^ ^ 

trial order. should we gather the mipression that, through 
these years, men talked of nothing but party 
loyalty or of governmental activity. In fact the characteris- 
tic feature of the time was industrial growth, .the rise of new 
factories, the peopling of the new west, the stretching out of the 
railroads across the country, the coming in of the great business 
enterprises that made the old methods of life and labor seem 
primitive, simple, and old-fashioned. 

When the Civil War broke out, the United States was still 
in many ways a land of simple conditions. It had lost much 
of the appearance of the frontier, to be sure; even in the Missis- 
sippi valley there were factories as well as farms; but the 
great natural resources of the land — the oil, the coal, the iron, 
the lumber — had been scarcely more than touched. Large 
sections were still without railroads. Beyond the line of Mis- 
souri and Iowa, there were a few people; Kansas came in as 
a state in 1861; the hardy Mormons had pushed on into Utah 
and were turning the Salt Lake Valley into a garden; but there 
were still hundreds of miles of uninhabited prairie where the 
buffalo roamed in countless numbers. The words "Great 
American Desert" were printed in large letters on the map, 
covering a wide area of the west, where to-day are farms and 
villages. The great mineral wealth of the mountains was 
scarcely dreamed of. 

474 



MODERN INDUSTRIAL AMERICA— 1859-1903 475 

In 1859, when poor, distracted Kansas was settling down to 
rest after the turmoil of "popular sovereignty ", the rumor 
»,.. r.r . spread that gold had been discovered near Pike's 

The West. -rf i ^ 

Peak, at the eastern edge of the Rockies. The 
word was enough: men, eager for immediate riches, gathered 
from far and near and started for the mountains. Big wagons, 
with "Pike's Peak or Bust" printed on their canvas covers, 
began the journey across the prairie. Soon little mining camps 
were established in the mountain valleys, and the history of 
Colorado was begun. About the same time, silver was found 
in the western part of Utah, in a portion of the territory which 
became Nevada. Thus, about i860 the great mining in- 
dustry of the western region began. The development of Colo- 
rado alone will serve as some indication of the growth of the 
Mountain district. In 1888 the state produced $3,758,000 
in gold; $24,273,000 in silver; $7,006,000 in lead; $203,000 in 
copper. The "Comstock lode" of Nevada, discovered in 1859, 
turned out fabulous riches; in twenty-one years it produced 
$306,000,000 worth of silver bullion.^ 

California was by i860 a prosperous state, though still, of 
course, far from being the land we now know; its population 
was about 375,000. San Francisco, still retaining many of the 
characteristics of the early days, when the hustling "forty- 
niners" crowded its wind-swept streets, was a city of over 



^ The first government of Colorado was set up by the settlers them- 
selves, simply to preserve order, one of the many examples in American 
history, beginning with the Mayflower Compact, in which settlers have 
made their own government. The territory of Colorado was provided for 
by Congress in 1861 ; in 1876 it came into the Union. Nevada developed at 
first rapidly but never contained a large population. In 1861 the miners 
sent $50,000 in silver bricks to the sanitary commission to help in the care 
of wounded and sick soldiers. In 1864 Nevada was admitted into the 
Union. The mountain region at the north was also in part peopled during 
the war. In 1862 and 1863, gold was discovered in what is now Montana, 
and again miners and settlers flocked to the site; twenty-five years after- 
ward the value of property as assessed for taxation was nearly $53,000,000, 
Such stories of rapid growth declare in some measure the wonderful devel- 
opment of America in the years from i860 on. 



476 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

50,000 people. By 1880 its population was four times that 
number. Oregon was admitted to the Union just before the 
outbreak of the Civil War. It then held some 
Oregon. 5o,ooo scttlcrs, most of whom had taken the long 

journey by the Oregon trail across the mountains to 
settle on farms and in villages in the rich placid region of the 
far northwest. In twenty years it more than trebled its popu- 
lation. 

Even before the mining settlements were made in the moun- 
tain regions, there were routes across the continent. Many a 
traveller had made his way across the boundless 
schooner"^ prairies and over the Rockies to the coast; many 
an ambitious pioneer had been left to die by the 
wayside or was lost in the fastnesses of the mountains. The 
older west, the west that by i860 was already old, had been 
traversed by the steamboat, which threaded the innumerable 
streams of the eastern Mississippi valley; the great prairie 
region, on the other hand, was lined out in trails along which 
slowly moved the cumbrous "prairie schooner", the American 
ship of the desert. Boats plied up and down the Missouri and 
one or two of the other rivers; but large sections of the country 
had to be reached and peopled in less comfortable fashion than 
by water travel. Long caravans of wagons and horses left the 
towns of western Iowa and Missouri or eastern Kansas and 
Nebraska for the far west. 

The trader, carrying his goods to remote regions, began 
early. Of course the fur-trader, the advance guard of civiliza- 
tion, had long been familiar with the great north- 
Trails. JO o ^ ^ 

west. The merchant and the settler followed in his 
wake. Even before the claim to Oregon was settled (1846) and 
before the taking of California, trails were made across the con- 
tinent. The first was the Santa Fe trail, stretching a long 
dreary course from western Missouri into New Mexico; over 
this route, pack trains carried goods to be exchanged for Mexi- 
can products. A long hard road it was, some six hundred miles 
over the dry prairies, where Indians, half friendly at the best, 
were a more or less constant menace; but the brave frontier 



MODERN INDUSTRIAL AMERICA— 1859-1903 477 

tradesman or mule driver seemed to think privation and danger 
only part of the day's sport. It is said that deep ruts can 
still be seen where the creaking prairie wagons were dragged 
along with their burdens of merchandise. A route also ran 
from Council Bluffs, Iowa, over the plains and through the 
passes of the mountains to the Columbia Valley. The diflficulties 
of the trip and its adventures will always remain a part of the 
vivid history by which the great west was won. To Salt Lake 
City a trail was made in early days; before the Civil War a 
daily stage was running from the Missouri river to the Mormon 
city. Ere long the pony express hurried the mails across the 
mountains to San Francisco. 

The American of the middle of the nineteenth century, 
dazed by no prospects of difficulty or expense, was not to re- 
main content with the wagon or the pack horse. 
Raaro^d! '^ ^ ^^^ ^Y ^^^ name of Barlow — a daring spirit 
he must have been — began writing to the news- 
papers about a railroad from New York to the Columbia River 
as early as 1834. He must have been considered about as 
wise and sane as a man would have been who proposed air- 
ships to China. Ten years later Asa Whitney began advocat- 
ing a western railroad. He succeeded in arousing some public 
interest, and from his enthusiasm may be said to have come 
the movement that ended with success. 

Even before the annexation of California plans for a west- 
ern railroad were seriously discussed. After the discovery of 
gold and the rapid peopling of the state, it began to be more 
and more evident that some time the great work 
road. must be undertaken. Perhaps the road might have 

been begun even in the fifties had there not been 
sectional disputes and rivalries; Congress discussed the matter, 
but while northerners wanted a northern route, southerners 
wanted a southern route, and discussion begat further bitter- 
ness. The party platforms of i860 favored a transcontinental 
railroad, its construction to be furthered by governmental aid. 
With the outbreak of war the necessity of binding the far west 
to the rest of the Union became a plain duty; the coast region 



478 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



and even the mountain districts were being peopled rapidly, and 
every day added to the need for a safe and rapid means of 
communication. 

In 1862 Congress passed the important Act, which was 
altered in 1864. It chartered two companies; one, the Union 

Pacific, was to build westward, the other, the 
gramrald. Central Pacific, was to build from San Francisco 

eastward. Liberal money grants were made by 
the government, and large areas of land along the right of way.^ 
The passage of this measure in one respect is significant in 




Trails to the West and Routes of Pacific Railroads 
constitutional history. No longer were there serious outcries 
against the power of government to aid in internal improve- 
ments. Money and land were now given lavishly, and the plan 

^ The Union Pacific has had a checkered career; its history tells of financial 
discord and of sharp practice, a tangled tale involving the reputation of 
business men and legislators and the loss of many a hard earned dollar by 
the innocent investor. It is one of those epics of "high finance", of which 
the last half of the nineteenth century furnished many an example. 



MODERN INDUSTRIAL AMERICA— 1859-1903 479 

of aiding railroad building by grants of the public domain was 
established. The work on the two roads was begun with energy; 
each vied with the other in the race. They met at a point 
near Ogden, Utah. In May, 1869, the "last spike" was driven.^ 
The new railroad did more than merely connect the people 















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Driving the Last Spike 
A scene near Ogden, Utah, May 10, 1869 

of the Pacific coast with those of the middle West, it helped in 
the settlement of the great middle region, in which other roads 
were now built. In Nebraska there were only 28,000 people 
in 1860, in twenty years there were nearly a million, and in 



1 There were interesting ceremonies. "The ties were laid for the rails 
in the open space (about 100 feet between the completed ends of the 
lines) and while coolies from the west laid the rails at one end, the pad- 
dies from the east laid them at the other, until they met and joined. 
The 'last spike' remained to be driven. Telegraphic wires were so con- 
nected that each blow of the descending sledge could be reported instantly 
on the telegraphic instruments in most of the large cities from the At- 
lantic to the Pacific; corresponding blows were struck on the bell of the 
City Hall in San Francisco, and with the last blow of the sledge a cannon 
was fired at Fort Point". — Davis, The Union Pacific Railway. 



480 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



1888 the state produced in corn alone almost 150,000,000 
bushels. The population of Kansas, which was little more 
than 100,000 at the outbreak of the Civil War, was nearly 
1,500,000 by 1890, almost twice the population of Connecticut. 
These are but examples of the astonishing growth of the west- 
ern prairie region, where wheat and corn fields stretched away 
to the horizon, and flourishing towns grew up as if by magic. ^ 

The success of the first transcontinental railway stimulated 
the building of others. Plans for building a northern route 
began early. Immense land grants were ob- 
tained from Congress: it is estimated that the 
grant contained over 48,000,000 acres, an area 
about that of the state of New Hampshire. It took years, 
however, to get the money to build the road, and it required 
patience and superb engineering skill to surmount the physical 
difficulties. Finally in the early eighties the Northern Pacific 
was completed. In the South the Southern Pacific was com- 
pleted and other lines also. Population followed the railroads; 
great fields of wheat began to extend over the rich grain 



other western 
roads. 



^Figures, statistics of growth, need not be remembered in detail; but if 
one is to see in general the tremendous development of the West in these 
years he needs to call upon statistics to help him. 

Population of the West 
State i860 1870 1880 i8go 1900 1910 

Iowa 675,000 i,ig4,ooo 1,625,000 1,900,000 2,230,000 2,225,000 

Minnesota 172,000 439,000 780,000 1,300,000 1,750,000 2,075,000 

North Dakota I ,0 t . ^^^ t,^ ^,^ 194,000 319,000 577,000 

South Dakota f 4,8oo 14,000 135,000 ^^3,000 400,000 583,000 

Nebraska 28,000 122,000 452,000 1,062,000 1,066,000 1,192,000 

Kansas 107,000 364,000 996,000 1,428,000 1,470,000 1,690.000 

California 380,000 560,000 864,000 1,213,000 1,485,000 2,377,000 

In i860 Kansas produced 5,678,000 bushels of corn; in 1870 the crop 
was 16,685,000 bushels, and in 1888, 168,000,000 bushels. In i860 it pro- 
duced 168,000 bushels of wheat; in 1870 2,343,000, ten years later 25,000,- 
000 bushels. 

In i860 in the west north central region, not including Missouri — that 
is, in Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kan- 
sas—there were about 1,000,000 people. In 1880 there were 4,000,000 — ■ 
in other words as many people as there were in the whole United States 
when the Constitution was adopted (1788). 



MODERN INDUSTRIAL AMERICA— 1859-1903 481 

lands of Minnesota, and before long the Dakotas began to be 
taken up by settlers. 

The rapid peopling of the West was in part due to the 
land policy of the Government. Land was given to the rail- 
roads, it is true, and from them great fortunes 
Act! °™^^ ^* were made; but the Government had, during the 
Civil War, adopted a policy of granting lands to 
settlers without asking compensation. The land, it was said, 
belonged to the people; why charge them for it? In 1862 the 
Homestead Act was passed, whereby any head of a family 
might become the owner of 160 acres of public land by settling 
upon it and living there five years. No man need be homeless, 
if he could build a sod house on the western prairies or a log 
shanty in the forest; if he could work with his hands and plant 
a few acres of corn or wheat, he might soon be a farmer, a verit- 
able lord of lands. 

Thus the great desert which in early days was supposed to 
extend over a large part of Kansas, Nebraska and the moun- 
tain region was peopled. Farm houses, school 
The great houscs, churchcs dotted the land. By 1890 

longer. Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Washington, North 

and South Dakota were members of the Union. 
In 1896 Utah became a state. 

In all the process of taking up this continent and of push- 
ing the frontier westward, the cowboy, the shepherd, and the 
herder of hogs and horses have played their part.^ 
business ^ One of the earliest frontiers is the stock raising 

frontier, rather than the farmer frontier; stock 
raising rather than the raising of crops is the work of the pioneer 
when conditions favor. The western part of the old eastern 

^ "Travelers of the eighteenth century found the cowpens among the 
canebrakes and prairie pastures of the South, and the 'cow drivers' took 
their droves to Charleston, Philadelphia, and New York. Travelers at 
the close of the War of 181 2 met droves of more than a thousand cattle 
and swine from the interior of Ohio going to Pennsylvania to fatten for 
the Philadelphia market. The ranges of the great plains with ranch, and 
cowboy and nomadic life are things of yesterday and to-day. The experi- 
32 



482 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



states was an early cattle region, and the cowboy of the western 
Carolinas was an important person in the days of the Revolu- 
tion. Sheep and hogs as well as cattle were raised in the upland 
country and driven in great droves to the eastern towns. So 
it was in the newer West. The wide prairies offered facili- 
ties unusually inviting. In place of the wandering herds of 




Breaking Raw Prairie 
From a contemporary illustration in Harper's Weekly 

buffalo, vast herds of cattle soon appeared; the cowboy and 
his mustang became the conspicuous workers in a great in- 
dustry. For a time the public lands, where no man was inter- 
fered with, unless he stole a horse or a cow — an unforgivable 
offence — were freely used. Later there were private ranches, 
immense estates, where thousands of cattle nibbled the grass 
and the watchful cowboy guarded his herds. After the rail- 
roads were built, train loads of cattle were carried to the 
stockyards of Kansas City, Omaha, and Chicago. 



ence of the Carolina cowpens guided the ranchers of Texas. One element 
favoring the rapid extension of the ranchers' frontier is the fact that in a 
remote country lacking transportation facilities the product must be in 
small bulk, or be able to transport itself, and the cattle raiser could easily 
drive his product to market." (F. J. Turner, "Influences of the Frontier 
in Amer. Hist.", Ann'l Rept. of Amer. Hist. Ass'n, 1893, 21.) 



MODERN INDUSTRIAL AMERICA— 1859-1903 483 

We have been looking at western development in the thirty 
years after the war. But the east was growing too; popula- 
tion was increasing; immigrants from foreign 
andbVburbllss. lands were thronging to the country in which 
they hoped to find new opportunities and to gain 
riches; towns developed into cities; hamlets into populous 
towns. The railroad system spread a network of rails over the 
middle and eastern section. The factory system, which had 
not much more than begun by the middle of the century, was 
building up, changing the older simple systems of industry 
and bringing in new problems. The iron ore and the lumber and 
other natural products were seized upon. Corporations were 
founded to make everything under the sun. Large fortunes 
were accumulated. They were made in many ways; but 
largely by men who shrewdly used the great opportunities 
which were offered by the natural resources of the country and 
by the immense development of transportation. The building 
up of large fortunes on the basis of natural resources is an 
important characteristic of the period. 

The invention of new machinery stimulated the growth of 

factories. The development of factories and the increase of 

railroads stimulated the growth of cities. Many 

Beginnings of ^ vciQ.r). is living to-day who can remember seeing 

the concentra- ^ • r ^ ^ • ^r ^ • • 

tion of industry, his father or his grandfather sittmg by the fire- 
side in the winter evening and making axe helves 
with a draw-shave or carving out some other useful thing with 
a cunning knife blade. But in the decades after the Civil War, 
household work of this kind disappeared. Even the little in- 
dustries that were carried on in the villages and towns, some- 
times by a few tinkers or "handy men", began to vanish. 
The factories in the large cities made things by machinery 
and made them cheaply. The flour mills, that had been built 
here and there along the inland streams by the side of friendly 
mill dams, were allowed to sink into ruins; the prairie wheat 
was rushed away to the big elevators in Chicago or Minneapolis. 
And thus the process of concentration was begun and was well 
under way before 1890. 



484 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



Cities, as we have said, took on new dimensions and mul- 
tiplied their people. At the beginning of the nineteenth 
century the American people generally lived in small towns 
or on the farm; but the development of the factory system 
caused the gradual growth of cities and the 
concentration of population. This change was 
especially marked in the decades after the Civil 
War, when the older eastern cities greatly increased their 
population and the smaller places of the Middle West, 



Growth of 
cities. 




-^^^ y\^\ /K \-^ -< ""^r^ 



"who $Toi.ETHEpEopi.rsMoNfr?-oo TfLL.NY.TiMcs. IT-WA5 HJM. 

A Cartoon of the Tweed Ring in New York City, by Thomas Nast 

like Buffalo, Cleveland and Detroit, not to mention Chi- 
cago, St. Louis and Cincinnati, became populous, thriv- 
ing cities. The change brought in serious problems in city 
government; for it was necessary to provide for street rail- 
way transportation, for gas and water, and for many other 
things which had been looked after by the individual alone in 
the older and simpler methods of village life. In fact, all or 
most of the duties of the city were badly attended to in very 
many cases; the city governments were at their worst during this 



MODERN INDUSTRIAL AMERICA— 1859-1903 485 

period, when the ordinary man was so busy making money he 
paid insufficient attention to the way in which he was governed, 
provided he was left alone, and when the new conditions were 
so new, that few men could realize all their meaning. The 
thievery of the Tweed ring in New York was the most extreme 
piece of rascality — for millions were stolen; but it was only an 
extravagant example of more or less general unscrupulous man- 
agement of municipal business. This growth of cities and 
these new problems of city government were in large measure 
the product of fundamental change in the industrial and social 
life of the people. The truth is, the world was just beginning 
to feel the full effect of the invention of machinery 
Industrial ^^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^£ steam. The men of the eighteenth 

evolution. o 

century still used tools rather than machinery; 
they had no need of corporations to furnish them light or 
water, or transportation on the street; they lived in many 
respects as men had lived since the time when fire 
was first discovered, or when the wind was first used to 
fill the sails at sea. They kept fire in their big fireplaces 
over night by banking it up, for they had no matches; they 
sailed on the lakes and the sea, instead of being hurried along 
by steam; they spun their wool or flax in the chimney corner; 
they wove their rough homespun on the family loom. With 
the invention of the steam engine came the industrial revolu- 
tion, the greatest change that has come for thousands of years 
The old home industry began to disappear. With the inven- 
tion of railroads men were brought together. The factory 
system, already begun, developed more rapidly. All this worked 
marvellous changes in the course of half a century; but for all 
that, what steam really meant — what all kinds of swiftly 
moving machinery really meant — was not disclosed till after 
the Civil War, and even then men did not fully realize how 
quickly they were leaving the long past behind them. 
Large steamships hurried across the ocean and brought the 
two continents together; the telegraphic cable, the first one 
laid in 1866, flashed messages beneath the Atlantic. Railroads, 
reaching in all directions, made the spaces of by-gone days of 



486 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

no moment; the barriers between sections were destroyed. 
The rapid printing presses brought each man the news of 
yesterday. And when in the eighth and ninth decades of the 
century, electricity began to be used as motive power, new 
industrial change came in. 

The industrial growth of which we have spoken was not 

confined to the Northern states or the great West. The 

Southern states gradually recovered from the dreadful 

losses of war and the humiliation of Reconstruction days. 

^ , It took time for the people to overcome poverty 

The new South. , r i 

and to get used to the new free labor system, but 
little by little the cotton industries developed, and prosperity 
smiled upon the people. In 1890 two and one-half times as 
much cotton was raised in the South as in 1860.^ In early days 
the cotton seed was a mere waste product of cotton raising, 
but the introduction of machinery to crush the seeds made the 
seed valuable. In 1865 the cotton seed oil industry was hardly 
known; in 1890 one company made over $20,000,000 worth 
of oil, and the production continued to increase; millions of 
dollars were made by the planters from what a few years ago 
had been a nuisance. Other industries also sprang up and the 
section began to lose its purely agricultural character. The 
opening up of the iron deposits in Alabama, the mining of coal 
in some of the states, the attack on the pine forests, all made 
great changes in Southern conditions. In 1880 Birmingham 
was a town of 3,000 people, and in 1890 it had 26,000 inhabi- 
tants. Atlanta, Georgia, the heart of the new South, became 
a flourishing business center. 

The extension of the population, the building up of new 
business, and the building up of great railway systems, brought 
of course new tasks of adjustment. In the seventies the farmers 
of the middle West complained of discrimination and of the 
high charges for storing their wheat and corn. They no longer 



^ In i860, 3,841,416 million bales; in 1890, 8,562,089 bales; in 1910, 12,- 
005,688. The value of manufactured cotton. North and South, was $115,- 
681,000 in i860; $267,981,000 in 1890; $442,451,000 in 1910. 



MODERN INDUSTRIAL AMERICA— 1859-1903 487 



carried their grain on their old wagons for any long distance; it 
was hurried away on the railroads and stored in immense eleva- 
tors to be ground in the great mills or shipped far- 

Jirr^' theronto 
the east- 
ern ports. The farmer 
was no longer in com- 
mand of his own means 
of transportation, or, 
in a measure, of his 
own product. Then 
the "Granger Move- 
ment 'V in part a 
protest against the 
railroads and the exac- 
tions of the corpora- 
tions and against all 
forms of monopoly, be- 
gan. Because of this 
opposition legislation 
was secured concern- 
ing railroad and eleva- 
tor rates, and thus was 




Copi/riyht by L'mUruood d- Vnchrwadd 

A Modern Grain Elevator 



begun the effort to regulate and control the corporations.^ 

iThe National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry was formed in 
1867. Some years passed however before it included great numbers. In 
1S74 there were 22,000 granges or lodges, with a total membership of over 
800,000. Their purpose was the improvement of the farmers, chiefly by 
meeting and discussing problems. The Grangers, as such, commonly dis- 
claim political intention or the use of legal or political methods, but the 
agitation against monopolies and railway extortions sprang largely from 
the farmers, and the movement is commonly called the "Granger Move- 
ment". This movement was not the same in all respects as the Farmers' 
Alliance or the Populist movement, of which something will be said later. 
But it was an indication of a sentiment which was to show itself in many 
forms in the course of the next generation. The Grange still remains a 
social association among farmers and a means of education through dis- 
cussion of matters of interest. 

^ This legislation brought difficult constitutional questions. Could rates 
be fixed without depriving a man of his property "without due process of 



488 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

The railroads in fierce competition, and often, in their eager- 
ness to get business, without much consideration of whether it 
paid or not, resorted to various kinds of under- 
discrk^ination. hand practices. "We all know, everyone knows", 
said Charles Francis Adams, Jr., in 1880, before a 
Congressional commission, "that discrimination in railroad 
treatment and charges does exist between individuals and be- 
tween places. . . . We know that certain large business 
firms, the leviathans of modern trade, can and do state their 
own terms between rival [railroad] corporations, while the small 
concern must accept the best terms it can get. It is beyond 
dispute that business is carried hither and thither — to this 
point, away from that point, and through the other point — ■ 
not because it would naturally go to, away from, or through, 
those points, but because the rates are made on an artificial 
basis to serve ulterior ends". Rebating was indulged in; that 
is, a secret return of a portion of the freight charge to a favored 
firm or corporation. As these practices became known, strong 
opposition was awakened; the old highway had been free to 
all on equal terms, why not the railroad ? The public felt that 
business should not be promoted or hampered, built up or 
crushed, at the whim of the owners of the iron highways, and 
that big business should not be given unfair advantage by being 
allowed to transport its products at such low rates that "the 
little man" bore the real burden, perhaps even made good the 
loss involved in carrying the big man's goods. 

Congress has no right under the Constitution to regulate 
commerce solely between places within a single state. Inter- 
law"; that is, could the legislature, by saying what a man or a corporation 
could get for the use of his property, actually lower the value of his prop- 
erty? The courts said that here was a question for the legislature; but they 
said also a few years later that rates fixed by the legislature or by commis- 
sion must be reasonable; thus the courts had something to say about the 
amount of rates fixed. There arose also the question as to whether a state 
could by fixing rates interfere with inter-state traffic, for Congress is given 
by the Constitution right to control inter-state and foreign commerce. It 
was evident that direct control of inter-state rates was beyond the powers 
of a state. 



MODERN INDUSTRIAL AMERICA— 1859-1903 489 

state and foreign commerce is, however, subject to congressional 
regulation and control.^ The time had come for Congress to 

act. In 1887 an Interstate Commerce Act was 
c^nmerce Act. P^ssed. One of its important clauses provided 

that no common carrier should charge more 
"for a shorter haul than for longer distance over the same line, 
in the same direction, the shorter being included within the 
longer distance". The "short and long haul clause" was in- 
tended to prevent discriminations between places. Provision 
was also made against rebates. This was the beginning of a 
serious attempt on the part of the federal government to 
regulate interstate commerce. A commission of five per- 
sons was appointed to administer the law. Despite many 
difficulties and embarrassments the commission soon accom- 
plished something in the way of bettering conditions; but 
as we shall see the passing years showed the need of further 
legislation. 

The development of big business brought up the "trust 
problem," though it was only dimly seen at the time. In 1890 

Congress passed the Sherman Anti-trust Act, 

The trusts. . ,. ^ . , ,..,,. . I 

providmg agamst the combmation m restramt of 
trade". But it remained for years almost a dead letter on the 
statute book, while new combinations sprang up on every hand. 
Some years passed before public sentiment strongly demanded 
its enforcement. 

While in the years of industrial combination and growth, 
great factories and railway systems were coming into being, 
labor, too, was beginning to organize. Strife be- 
tween labor and capital entered upon dangerous 
ground. There was in the olden time little chance for serious 
differences, but every cause adding to the concentration of in- 
dustry also multiplied the numbers of workingmen and brought 
thousands of them together, dependent for their wages and their 
comfort on the factory owners. The new industrial system 
brought in danger of class division and the absence of sym- 

1 See Constitution, Art. I, Sec. 8, § 3- 



490 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



pathy and of fellow feeling between employer and employed.'^ 
In 1877 the first great strike occurred. The commencement 
of the trouble was on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, but it 
quickly spread to all the lines east of the Mississippi. The 




The Railway Strike of 1S77 

Rioters stopping a train on the Erie R.R. From a contemporary 
illustration in Leslie's Weekly 

strikers took forcible possession of the tracks at the principal 
junctions and prevented the forwarding of goods or the dis- 
patching of passenger trains. The whole internal commerce 
of the country was thrown into confusion. Fights between 
mobs and the police authorities took place, and the militia was 
called out to suppress rioting. When state troops failed to 
suppress violence, the Federal army was called in for the pur- 
pose. The most serious disorder was in Pittsburg, where angry 

^ Naturally this was not all new. There were troubles before the Civil 
War and movements for labor organization. It was, however, the trans- 
formation of the later years, the coming of the time when workmen were 
gathered in thousands, when the little shop that had made things began to 
go, that the new relationship and the new social system showed themselves 
strongly. 



MODERN INDUSTRIAL AMERICA— 1859-1903 491 




and excited mobs burned and pillaged and robbed, and where 
millions of dollars' worth of property was destroyed. After 
some two weeks of riot and disorder, peace was restored, the 
roads began to carry freight and passengers as of old; but a 
picture of discord had been held up to the public gaze, and men 
saw a new danger of social discontent and bitterness. 

In the years that followed there were many other strikes, 
most of them of a purely local character. There was the awful 
Homestead strike of 1892. In 1894 the great Chicago strike 
almost paralyzed the business world, for it affected the rail- 
road traffic of a large part of the country's industry. Again 
Federal troops were 
called out and 
finally restored 
peace. As the years 
went on, the strike 
in one form or an- 
other was used time 
and time again to ^ Modern Steam Locomotive 

gain shorter time for workmen, or higher wages. The problem 
of adjustment, of reaching reasonable relations between labor 
and capital, of finding peace in the industrial world, a peace 
not bought by warfare or threats of violence, came to be a 
problem of the utmost interest.^ 

Meanwhile labor unions were formed; they were the product 
of the new life of the workingman and of the new conditions 
of labor. In 1869 the Knights of Labor was es- 
tablished; though the order grew slowly at first, 
by the early eighties it was very large. An assembly in 1886 
was said to represent a membership of over 300,000, and in fact 

^ It is said that between 1881 and 1900 there were in all 22,793 strikes; 
117,509 establishments, and over 6,000,000 workingmen were involved — 
a sorry tale, on the whole, of unreasonableness somewhere and somehow. 
The right and wrong of all this cannot be said in a word, if anybody knows 
it. We only know that if civilization is to grow and prosper, workingmen 
must have decent compensation and good conditions of work; employers 
must have reasonable freedom and independence; justice must in some 
way be reached without warfare and violence. 



Labor unions. 



492 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

a much larger membership was often mentioned. The American 
Federation of Labor also became a powerful order, and ere 
long practically supplanted the Knights of Labor. It was 
founded at an earlier time; but began its more active career 
after 1886, when it took its present name. Its membership 
increased rapidly till in 1903 there were 1,500,000 persons 
on its rolls. The union, though often resorting to strikes to 
attain its ends, is primarily for the general improvement of the 
social as well as laboring conditions of the workingman. These 
immense bodies with their able leaders have almost unlimited 
opportunities for good and evil in the development of American 
civilization.^ 

References 

Wilson, Division and Reunion, Chapter XIII; Dunning, Re- 
construction, Political and Economic, Chapter IX; Sparks, National 
Development, Chapters I-V, XVIII; Dewey, National Problems, 
Chapters I, III, VI, XII; Coman, Economic Beginnings of the Far 
West. 

' The American Federation of Labor in 1903 put forth the following series 
of desires: (i) Compulsory Education; (2) Repeal of all conspiracy and 
penal laws affecting seamen and other workmen; (3) The eight-hour day; (4) 
Sanitary inspection of shops, mines, and homes; (5) Liability of employers 
for injury to workmen; (6) Abolition of contract system in public works; 
(7) Abolition of sweating system; (8) City ownership of street cars, gas 
works, etc.; (0) National ownership of telegraphs, telephones, railroads, 
and mines; (10) Abolition of monopoly system of land holding; (11) Direct 
legislation and the referendum; (12) Abolition of the "monopoly privilege" 
of issuing money, which should be issued by and to the people. 

It will be seen that this is a program of wide and deep political and 
social significance. 



CHAPTER XXV 



TWELVE YEARS OF PARTY DISCUSSION; THE TARIFF 
AND SILVER 

The twelve or fourteen years after Grover Cleveland^ 

came to the presidential chair — the first Democratic president 

since Buchanan — were taken up, as far as party 

Tasks of the ^ , . i ' • i' J 

term 1885-1897. Controversy and governmental action were con- 
cerned, with old problems and with new; some of 
them growing out of the new industrial order, others like the 
tariff as old as the Government, (i) There was the duty of 
enforcing the new civil service regulations, the duty of con- 
scientious enforcement in the spirit 
of the new system. (2) Legislation 
was demanded for the control of 
the railroads, whose development 
during the preceding twenty years 
had been so marked. (3) Then the 
money question, the coinage of sil- 
ver, and its attendant problems re- 
quired attention. (4) The old 
tariff question was more insistent 
than ever, for money was piling up 
in the treasury of the United States, 
inviting wasteful expenditures and 
extravagant appropriations. (5) In 

^ Cleveland was president trom March 4, 1885, to March 4, 1889; and 
was re-elected for one term in 1892. He had held no national office when 
he was called upon to take up the duties of the presidency. He first won 
attention by his services as Mayor of Buffalo. In 1882 he was elected Gov- 
ernor of New York, in which position he won the confidence of the people 
by the directness of his methods and the fearlessness with which he opposed 
measures which seemed to him harmful to the public interests. 

493 




494 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

course of time, there were, too, delicate questions of adjust- 
ment with foreign nations. 

Vice-President Hendricks died in November, 1885. This 

called attention once more to the desirability of changing the 

line of succession to the presidency, in case of the 

Presidential death of the President and Vice-President or their 

succcssioii 

igge. ' inability to act. At the next session of Congress 
a bill was passed providing that in such a con- 
tingency the Secretary of State should succeed, and, if the 
necessity should by any possibility arise, the other members 
of the Cabinet should assume the duties of the presidential 
office in the following order: (i) Secretary of the Treasury, 
(2) Secretary of War, (3) Attorney-General, (4) Postmaster- 
General, (5) Secretary of the Navy, (6) Secretary of the In- 
terior. The law applies only to such persons as are constitu- 
tionally eligible.^ The Electoral Count Act also became law. 
Its object is to prevent the recurrence of such 
Acl^ 1*887 °"° disputes as that of 1876, by providing that the 
States themselves shall provide for the final 
"determination of controversies" concerning the election of 
presidential electors. 

President Cleveland had hard work in carrying out a wise 
and generous policy of appointments and removal from office. 
^. .. „ . The Civil Service Act was but a beginning; there 

Civil Service. ° f ' 

were still many thousands of offices whose oc- 
cupants could be summarily removed. Possibly it can justly 
be said that the President did not struggle with his usual 
tenacity against the eager hordes of office-seekers who de- 
manded the immediate fruits of victory. ^ At all events Repub- 



^The Constitution, art. ii, sec. i, § 6. 

2 Cleveland was sometimes misled by the recommendations of party lead- 
ers and lost all patience with their persistence, and the tendency of some of 
them to lead him astray. The story is told, perhaps not a trustworthy tale, 
that one day when a Democratic leader complained because the President 
did not act more quickly, Cleveland sharply retorted, "I suppose you mean 
that I should appoint two horse thieves a day, instead of one". Let us 
believe the story is an exaggeration, if the thing happened at all; but the 



TWELVE YEARS OF PARTY DISCUSSION 495 

lican office-holders disappeared with great rapidity. The 
President was under tremendous pressure, and some of his sub- 
ordinates had no patience with a system which would retain 
Republican office-holders, who had been appointed in many 
cases purely for partisan reasons. In later days Cleveland said 
in referring to those trying days, "You know the things in 
which I yielded, but no one save myself can ever know the 
things which I resisted ". Some years had to pass before the 
public mind could see the whole spoils system aright and before 
intense partisans could view it justly. 

In 1887, the Interstate Commerce Act, of which we have 

spoken, went into effect. The President appointed an able 

Commission with Judge Thomas M. Cooley of 

The Interstate Michigan at itS head. The long struggle for rail- 
Commission, road regulations and control was bravely begun. 
It is an amazing fact that up to this time even 
statistics of the railroad business had not been collected sys- 
tematically by the Government. 

The President showed rare courage in taking up the money 
question. On this point he never faltered, though sooner or later 
he met with sharpest criticism and estranged a large portion of 
his party. In his first annual message, in December of 1885, he 
called the attention of Congress to the condition of the currency. 
He showed that only fifty million dollars, out of 

The silver , i i i ^ • .,,.., 

question. nearly two hundred and sixteen million silver 

dollars coined in accordance with the Bland- 
Allison act,^ had gone into circulation, and he declared that the 
continuance of silver coinage would bring the Government to 
the pass when it would have only silver money, which would 
mean that the currency would be let down to a lower standard 



tale discloses a situation. It reminds one of a story of the milder Lincoln, 
who was one day walking the floor of his office in deep perplexity and appar- 
ent gloom. Some one present inquired if he had bad news from the front, 
news always looked for and feared in the dreariest days of the war. "No", 
answered Lincoln; "it is the postmastership at Brownsville". 

^ Paper certificates were issued under this act, and were taken by the 
people instead of the silver they represented. 



496 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

of value, inasmuch as the silver in a dollar was not worth a dol- 
lar in gold. Nothing was done by Congress regarding the 
matter. It was believed by many that the President's fears 
were fanciful. Some, on the other hand, favored the "free 
coinage" of silver; in other words, they desired that the Gov- 
ernment should do more than simply purchase a limited amount 
of the metal and coin it; they desired that it should coin into 
dollars, freely and without limit, all the silver bullion that 
might be brought to the mints. These persons declared that 
the reason for the fall of silver in price in comparison with gold 
was because the Government made discrimination in favor of 
the latter metal. Other persons, not going so far as to favor 
free coinage, saw no great danger in existing conditions, and no 
law was passed, nor was the time yet ripe for the money question 
to become a party issue. 

The tariff was met with the same boldness as the silver 
problem. When Congress met in December, 1887, the Presi- 
dent sent in a message dealing exclusively with 
the^tajriff "^ *" the One subject of the tariff. There was little 
doubt among men of either party that the surplus 
was too large, and many felt that it was a serious source of 
danger, because it was a continuing temptation to extrava- 
gance or to hasty and unwise legislation. The President argued 
strenuously in favor of a reduction of duties. While advocating 
the imposition of lower duties on raw materials used in manu- 
facturing, he called special attention to the tariff on wool, 
which he declared constituted "a tax fastened upon the cloth- 
ing of every man, woman, and child in the land". This mes- 
sage was one of great importance, because, under this spur, 
the President's party set earnestly at work to revise the tariff 
and lower the duties. A bill directed to that end could not 
be passed through Congress at that session, but the tariff 
necessarily became the great question of the presidential can- 
vass of that year.^ 

^ It is sometimes said that a tariff which fills the Treasury to overflow- 
ing is better than one which does not; or that an over-full treasury is better : 



TWELVE YEARS OF PARTY DISCUSSION 497 

For the election of i8S8 the Democrats renominated Cleve- 
land, and gave the second place on the ticket to Allen G. Thur- 

man, of Ohio. They declared that all "unneces- 
iSsV^'^'""'* sary taxation is unjust taxation"/ that the policy 

of the party was "to enforce frugality in the 
public expenses", that a vast sum of money was being "drawn 
from the people and the channels of trade and accumulated 
as a demoralizing surplus in the national Treasury". The 
Republicans nominated Benjamin Harrison, of Indiana, and 
Levi P. Morton, of New York. They announced that they were 
"uncompromisingly in favor of the American system of protec- 
tion". They declared that they favored reduction of the revenue 
by repealing the taxes on tabacco and "spirits used in the arts", 
and would prefer the entire repeal of the internal taxes to a 
"surrender of any part of our protective system". Candidates 
were also put in the field by the Prohibition party, and nomina- 
tions were made by a number of other parties whose existence 
was indicative of discontent among many of the people, espe- 
cially the workmen and farmers. The Republicans were 
successful in the election, carrying all the Northern States 
except New Jersey and Connecticut. It was plain that Cleve- 
land's vigorous and downright personality had not captivated 
the people at large, though many admired his frankness and 
determination. He had made enemies too, among the political 
workers, and there was some uneasiness in business circles. 



than an empty one. Perhaps it is better, but if the tariff is a tax on the con- 
sumer too much taxation can hardly be better than less. Even if we differ 
as to whether the consumer or the foreign producer pays the tax, we should 
not differ in the belief that a large treasury surplus has its actual dangers 
as a source of thoughtless or extravagant, perhaps even corrupt, appropri- 
ations. In 1886 it was estimated that the next year would show a surplus 
of $140,000,000 in the Treasury. Cleveland knew that his message would 
arouse hostility. "It is more important to Congress", he said, "that this 
message should be delivered to Congress and the people, than that I should 
be re-elected president". Parties still differ about the tariff, but no one 
can doubt the strength of Cleveland's conviction and honest belief. 

1 This meant a high tariff, which, the Democrats asserted, took unnec- 
essary money from the people. 
33 



498 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



Benjamin 
Harrison. 



Perhaps his tarifif message made his re-election impossible at 
that time. 

Benjamin Harrison, grandson of William Henry Harrison, 
ninth President of the United States, was educated in Ohio, 
graduating from Miami University. After leav- 
ing college he studied law, was admitted to the bar, 
and began the practice of his profession in Indian- 
apolis. Soon after the outbreak of the Civil War he entered the 
army as a colonel, and won distinction for bravery and eflficiency, 

leaving the service as a brevet brig- 
adier general. He was elected sen- 
ator from Indiana in 1880, and 
showed in the Senate marked 
ability and capacity. As president 
he was able, painstaking, and just, 
but he lacked in marked degree 
the power of leadership, or at 
least the capacity for winning men 
by gracious address. Blaine, who 
became his Secretary of State, was 
still the idol of many people, and 
probably more than any other man 
the leader of his party. Senator 
Hoar once said, "Blaine would 
refuse a request in a way that 
would seem like doing a favor; Harrison would grant a re- 
quest in a way which would seem like denying it". 

Blaine entered heartily into the tasks of administration 
and of leadership. Foremost among his plans was to widen the 
influence and extend the trade of the United States 
in the western hemisphere. As a means to this 
end, the Pan-American Congress, composed of 
delegates from the principal states of the New 
World, met at Washington, and for some months discussed 
subjects of common interest. It resulted in the establishment 
of the Bureau of American Republics, which in later years be- 
came the Pan-American Union. 




The Pan- 
American 
Congress. 



TWELVE YEARS OF PARTY DISCUSSION 499 

There were enough foreign troubles in Harrison's time to 
give plenty of occupation for even the energetic mind and the 
rapidly moving pen of his Secretary, " the Plumed 
Chili ^ ^ Knight". Serious trouble arose with Chili (1891), 
arising out of an insurrection in that republic, 
in the course of which the American minister had opened his 
house as a place of security to the refugees. This he had the 
right to do; but the people of Chili believed that he had been 
over-officious, and, at all events, they cherished resentment 
against Americans. When a party of American seamen were 
attacked in the streets of Valparaiso, the situation assumed 
alarming proportions. It even looked as if war might follow, 
but after a time Chili sent "conciliatory and friendly" assur- 
ances of regret and the affair blew over. 

With Italy relations were strained for a time, because a 
mob in New Orleans broke into a jail and killed several Italian 
and with Italy prisoners. The provocation for this mob violence 
appears to have been great, for the Italians were, 
it seems, nothing but brigands, who had been plying their 
trade of murder and pillage in the city. It is one thing, how- 
ever, to punish criminals by legal process, and another to break 
into jail and shoot them down. Italy strongly protested against 
the action of the mob, and even withdrew her minister from 
this country. The United States government finally restored 
friendly relations by giving, as an indication of good will, money 
to the widows and orphans of the dead Italians. With Eng- 
land, too, there were complications and differences, this time 
over the seal fisheries in Behring Sea. Secretary Blaine pre- 
sented the American claim with confidence and in 
and samoa^ extreme form, but an end was not reached during 
his term of office. With Germany and England 
there arose a dispute about the ownership of the Samoan 
Islands. This was much discussed, some of the time not over- 
pleasantly, especially between Germany and America, but 
temporary adjustment was reached. Some years later the 
three countries settled their differences by a division of the 
islands (i 899-1 900), the United States obtaining Tutuila. 



500 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

Of more importance than any one of the other diplomatic 

afifairs, was the proposed Annexation of Hawaii. This matter 

.. „ arose toward the close of Harrison's term, after 

Hawaii, 1893. . . , 

Blaine had resigned his position. A rebellion 
broke out in the islands and annexation to the United States 
was sought by the victorious revolutionists, most of whom 
were American by birth or descent. A treaty, providing for 
annexation, was speedily concluded, but before final action 
was taken, the Harrison administration came to an end. Cleve- 
land, who followed him, believing that wrong had been done 
by the participation of American seamen and American officials 
in the uprising, withdrew the treaty from the Senate. Five 
years later (1898) the islands were annexed by joint resolution 
of both houses of Congress. 

The Republicans gallantly took up the gauge of battle on the 
tariff. If the Cleveland Democrats wanted reduction, not so 

the eager Republicans, who claimed that protec- 
Biu 1800 ^^ ^^^'^ guarded the American manufacturer and 

working man. Congress passed the famous 
McKinley Bill. It was a high protective measure, increasing 
the duties on many imported articles. Blaine, however, a 
staunch protectionist though he was, did not believe that the 
trade with South America could be built up as long as high tariff 
rates were rigorously enforced, and partly because of his earnest 
efforts, the bill was made to include a reciprocity provision. 
It was provided that the President could by proclamation 
impose a duty on sugar and certain other commodities coming 

from countries that placed import duties upon our 

Reciprocity. , . 

products, if in the President's opmion such duties 
were "reciprocally unequal and unreasonable", under the 
circumstances. This was practically an offer to the countries of 
Central and South America and the West Indies to allow their 
goods to come in free, if they would in return admit our products 
free; but it proposed to reach the end rather by threats of re- 
taliation than by methods of conciliation. 

In the middle of the summer that part of the Bland-Allison 
Act providing for the purchase of silver bullion was repealed, 



TWELVE YEARS OF PARTY DISCUSSION 501 

and in its place the Sherman Act was passed, which provided 
that the Government should purchase each month at the mar- 
ket price four and a half million ounces of such 
Act! 1890™*'^ bullion. In payment for the silver the Secretary 
of the Treasury was to give out Treasury notes 
that were to be full legal tender. The silver so bought was not 
to be coined into money except as it might be needed to re- 
deem notes presented for redemption. By this measure, there- 
fore, the Government practically ceased to coin silver dollars, 
but became the possessor of a constantly increasing quantity 
of the metal. This was "doing something for silver" as the 
phrase went, but it did not solve the silver problem or settle 
the money question. Every day silver piled up in the Treasury; 
every day added to the seriousness of the situation, and we 
shall see that as the years went by there was increasing trouble 
until the free and unlimited coinage of silver became the over- 
mastering issue of the hour. 

In the House of Representatives there was a great dis- 
cussion over the rules. It had long been customary for a mi- 
nority to block the progress of lawmaking by re- 
Ruies m the fusing to votc. A pcrson not voting was not 

House. *= , ^ , ^ , . 

i889-'9o. counted as present, and a quorum, therefore, 

could be obtained for the passage of a measure only 
when the majority could secure the presence of more than half 
of all the members of the House. Thomas B. Reed, the Speaker, 
interfered with the "filibustering" tactics of the Democratic 
minority ^ in the House by counting as part of the quorum all 
who were present, whether they voted or not. This power was 
afterward given him by the rules adopted by the House.^ 

1 It should be noticed that the Republicans had used like tactics when 
in the minority. 

- It will be remembered that the Speaker of the House is not, and in- 
deed does not pretend to be, the impartial presiding officer of an assembly, 
as does the Speaker of the House of Commons. The contrasts between the 
English and American systems are more striking than the similarities. The 
American Speaker is ostensibly and actually a party leader; he feels the 
responsibility for what is done in the House, and is so completely a master 
of the situation that no act can pass without his sanction. By refusing to 



502 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

During these years there was much discussion concerning 
improved methods of election.^ This was the beginning of the 

"recognize" a member offering or advocating a measure to which he is 
opposed he can keep such measures from coming before the House; he 
long possessed the right to appoint the committees, and thus could deter- 
mine the general character of legislation by the organization of the com- 
mittees. Probably no Speaker uses this power selfishly and arbitrarily; 
some leadership and responsibility are absolutely necessary in a body like 
the House of Representatives, and such leadership has in the course of a 
century come to be centered in the Speaker. 

For some two decades after Reed had disclosed the tremendous power 
of the Speaker's office there was little change. In 1910, however, a rising 
against the power of Speaker Cannon in the House resulted in taking away 
some of the Speaker's power. The committees of the next Congress, a Dem- 
ocratic Congress, were appointed partly by the caucus of the party 
in the House; the caucus, i. e. all the members of the party, chose 
the majority members of the Committee of Ways and Means, the commit- 
tee charged with the bills for raising money, tariff measures, and the like; 
then these committee members chose the majority members of the other 
committees. The "leader of the House" on the minority side chose, in 
1910, the minority members of the committees. No one can tell how long 
such methods will last. 

1 There are few changes or movements in our history more important. 
It will be remembered that in i?>t,i~t,2 the National Convention was es- 
tablished; in the states a similar method of naming officers for state posi- 
tions had already begun or was being established. The convention system 
did not by its representation system give the people control of their own 
affairs; it was controlled largely by the machine, honest or dishonest. The 
long struggle over the slavery question and the war checked what might 
have been done, perhaps, in the way of working out better methods of nom- 
'jiation and of balloting. Parties had all the election machinery in their 
hands; parties or party candidates printed and distributed the ballots; the 
whole thing was, so to speak, a private affair. Then came the demand for 
ballot reform in the eighties. The state by the new law prints the bal- 
lots, and booths are provided in which the voter marks his ticket. It is a 
curious fact that until that time we did not have the much talked-of "se- 
cret ballot"; any "watcher" at the polls could know fairly accurately how 
any one voted. These new laws were a great step forward, but in the 
course of a few years (in the early part of the twentieth century) there came 
further demands; the "direct primary" was demanded, whereby the voters 
of the party under the same restrictions and with the same opportunities 
as at an election were to be allowed to go to the polls and cast their votes 
for men whom they wanted their party to nominate. The old caucus of 
the party in wards or townships which nominated officers or selected dele- 
gates to a convention of many wards or townships met for a few minutes 



TWELVE YEARS OF PARTY DISCUSSION 503 

wave of election reform, of the effort to manage elections and to 
make nominations for office with regard for popular desire. It 
BaUot reform ^^^ ^^^^ customary for the political committees 
of the contesting parties in the various states 
or in the minor civil divisions of the states to furnish the bal- 
lots used at the election, and no means was offered whereby a 
voter might prepare and cast his ballot in secret. A number 
of States now passed measures that were similar to or partly 
in imitation of the Australian laws on the subject. These acts 
provide generally for the erection of small booths, into which 
the voter can go to prepare his ballot, and for the furnishing of 
tickets at public expense. The candidates of all parties are 
placed on the same piece of paper, and but one ticket is given 
to each elector. In this way the opportunities for bribery and 
fraud are lessened, since those who desire to use corrupt methods 
hesitate to purchase a man's vote when, because of the secrecy 
in which the ballot is prepared and cast, they cannot be sure 
that the person who has been bribed has fulfilled his agreement. 
Blaine had made a strong impression on many men in the 
party and in the country by his vigorous and rather vehement 
foreign policy, and won some adherents by his ad- 

Electionof ^ ^^ ■'. . . , , -^ . . 

1892. vocacy of reciprocity; but the coveted nomination 

for the presidency was not for him. Harrison was 
re-nominated in 1892. Cleveland was again nominated by the 
Democrats; and thus the contest was between old rivals, and the 
issues of the campaign were not essentially different 
^latform*"^ from thosc of four years before. The Republicans 
reaffirmed the doctrine of protection, and assert- 
ed that reciprocity was a success and would "eventually give 
us the control of the trade of the world"; they declared 

or an hour or two, in the evening probably, in a grocery store or an empty 
shop, and after hasty organization rushed through its work, as if the nam- 
ing of men for office were not one of the most vital duties of a people who 
would be free and well served. The direct primary keeps the polls open all 
day, and voting for nomination is carefully guarded by law. No people, it 
may be said again, have control over their own government if they allow a 
few men in secret conclave to manage their affairs for them; the choice of 
officers is in itself a great part of the business of self-government. 



504 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

that the people favored bimetallism/ and the party desired 
"the use of both gold and silver as standard money". 

The Democrats denounced "Republican protection as a 
fraud, a robbery of the great majority of the American people 

for the benefit of the few". They declared that the 
piltform*'*^ Sherman Act was "a cowardly makeshift fraught 

with possibilities of danger ", but, like the Repub- 
licans, favored "the use of both gold and silver as the standard 
money of the country". A newly formed party, called the 
People's, or Populist, party, nominated James B. Weaver, of 
Iowa, and James G. Field, of Virginia. Their platform de- 
manded the free and unlimited coinage of silver and gold, at 
the ratio of i6 to i, a graduated income tax,^ and the public 
ownership of telegraphs and railroads; it declared that the two 

old parties were simply struggling for power and 
platform. plunder, and that they had agreed together "to 

drown the outcries of a plundered people with the 
uproar of a sham battle over the tariff". The Prohibitionists 
and the Socialistic-Labor party also made nominations. 

Cleveland was elected, receiving 277 out of a total of 444 
electoral votes. The Democrats obtained control of both 

houses of Congress, and so had the Government 
election* * Completely in their hands. Blaine had been 

right when he predicted that the McKinley tariff 
provided for so much protection that it would "protect the 
Republican party into speedy retirement". 

The tasks of Cleveland's second administration (1893- 
1897) were much like those of his first term, — still the tariff 

^ Bimetallism means the use of two metals as standard money and 
as full legal tender, the purpose being to determine the coinage value in 
such a way that both will circulate on a parity. Monometallists claim that 
only one metal can be a standard, and that the metals cannot be so coined 
that the market value of a gold dollar and a silver dollar will remain the 
same. 

" That is, a tax on incomes so arranged that the greater a man's in- 
come the greater the tax in proportion to the income. For example, a man 
with an income of $4,000 might have to pay $40, while a man with $8,000 
income might have to pay $120. 



TWELVE YEARS OF PARTY DISCUSSION 505 

question and the demand of the manufacturers for protection, 
still the pushing for office and the problem of securing honest 
politics, still the silver and the money question; perplexing 
foreign troubles too added their burden. 

Cleveland had scarcely more than taken up the reins of 
office when a commercial panic like the disasters of 1837 and 

1873 swept over the country. For some time 
The panic of there had been a great decline in trade, and men 

who wished to borrow money for business pur- 
poses found it difficult to do so, even on the best security. The 
foreign capitalists who held bonds or stocks in American enter- 
prises sought repeatedly to dispose of them, in consequence of 
which there was great depression in all industry. An immense 
amount of gold left the country; the year ending June 30, over 
one hundred and eight million dollars were exported. As a re- 
sult of the depression and the difficulty of obtaining money, and 
because the basis of all credit, — namely, men's confidence in the 
ability of others to pay — was rudely shaken, failures of mer- 
cantile houses occurred in great numbers. There were doubt- 
less many causes for the trouble, among which was the fact 
that for some time previously there had been in many places 
an unwholesome excitement and zeal in business ventures, 
resulting in what is commonly known as over-production. 
Towns of the western and central states were "boomed" in 
a way that recalls to mind the infatuation of 1835-36. 

One reason for the panic was the fact that business men in 
this country and foreigners owning American securities feared 

that the United States would adopt a silver stand- 
repeaTeT, 1893 ^^^ ^° ^^^^ dcbts would be paid in a dollar the 

bullion value of which was much less than the 
value of a gold dollar, by which at that time all debts and com- 
modities were measured. President Cleveland called an extra 
session of Congress for August, declaring in his proclamation 
that "the present perilous condition of the country" was largely 
the result of unwise financial legislation. When Congress met, 
the President sent in a message recommending the repeal of 
those provisions of the Sherman Act which authorized the 



506 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION \ 

Government to purchase silver. A bill for this purpose was 
quickly passed by the House, but the Senate did not pass 
the measure till the end of October. This repeal seems to 
have had little effect in restoring confidence or bringing back 
better times. The depression in industry con- 
continues, tinned to exist. Before winter set in it was es- 
timated that eighty thousand people in New 
York, one hundred and twenty thousand people in Chicago^ 
and sixty thousand people in Philadelphia were out of em- 
ployment, and many of them were suffering from want. From 
such widespread disorder and loss, the country could not re- 
cover in a few months' time. Nearly four years went by be- 
fore business reached its old stage of prosperity, and the old 
buoyant confidence returned. In the meantime the parties had 
to meet the silver question frankly and not dally with it. That 
became the central issue of the campaign of 1896. 

During this summer of 1893 and times of panic and business 
depression a world's fair was held at Chicago to celebrate the 
four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of 
p^jj. "^ America.^ Of all the international exhibitions as 

yet attempted this was by far the greatest. The 
chief buildings, designed by competent architects, were beauti- 
ful examples of chaste and noble architecture, which must have 
left an indelible impression on the minds of all who beheld 
them. The grounds upon the shores of Lake Michigan were 
charming and attractive. The nations of the world vied with 
one another in sending costly and artistic exhibits. The at- 
tendance was very large, especially during the last two months 
of the Exposition. That such an exhibition, with its magnifi- 
cent buildings and its great display of wealth and culture, 
could be held in a city where but seventy years before only 
a little army post and a straggling frontier village existed, was 
a striking proof of the astonishing development of the great 
West and of American thrift and progress. 



^ The celebration would naturally have occurred in 1892, but it was 
found impossible to make the necessary preparations. 



TWELVE YEARS OF PARTY DISCUSSION 507 

For a number of years England and the United States had 
been at variance over the subject of the seal fisheries in Behring 
Sea. We have already mentioned Blaine's un- 
, fisheries. successful efforts to settle the matter, as he be- 

lieved it ought to be settled. To protect the seals 
from total extinction some regulations and restrictions were 
imperatively necessary. To quiet dispute in a friendly and 
sensible way, and also to determine some method of preserving 
the seals from complete destruction, it was agreed that the 
whole matter should be referred to a court of arbitration. The 
court met in Paris in the spring of 1893. It was composed 
of two members from the United States and two 
tribunal. from Great Britain, one from France, one from 

Italy, and one from Sweden and Norway. Our 
Government made two main contentions: (i) That the United 
States had jurisdiction and dominion in the Behring Sea; (2) 
that the seals making their homes end rearing their young on 
the islands of this sea were our property, even though they 
might temporarily migrate far out into the Pacific Ocean. The 
court gave a decision adverse to the United States, but issued 
regulations for the protection and reasonable preservation of 
the seals — regulations which, it was hoped, would be sufficient 
for the purpose. 

The President was anxious that, in conformity with Demo- 
cratic pledges, his party, now in control of both houses of Con- 
gress, should pass a new measure, embodying his 
ideas of a low tariff. The Wilson Bill was passed 
through the House, providing for lower duties; but it was 
mangled almost out of recognition in the Senate, where high 
protective clauses were introduced, much to the discourage- 
ment of the President and his supporters. Cleveland, con- 
sidering the mutilated bill a sorry exhibition, a mark of "party 
perfidy", refused to sign it, and it became a law without his 
signature.^ 

^ See Constitution, art. i, sec. 8, § 2. This failure of parties to carry 
out their pledges, the weakness of legislators under pressure of particular 
interests is a discouraging thing. If it prevails the party system largely 



508 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

It was expected that the revenue from duties on imports 
would be materially cut down by this act, and to provide the 

„, . requisite revenue, a tax on incomes of over four 

The income tax. 

thousand dollars was provided for. The consti- 
tutionality of this portion of the law was later called in ques- 
tion before the Supreme Court. By a vote of five to four, the 
Court held that the income tax was, taken as a whole, a direct 
tax, and it was declared inoperative and void because not ap- 
portioned among the states as the Constitution directs. ^ 

In the meantime, in the midst of high party dispute about 
tariff, money and hard times, arose serious questions in rela- 
tions with foreign nations. There arose trouble 
The be^mung about Cuba, an old trouble in some ways, for we 

of the Cuban , , , , , • , o • , 

question. had had many sharp passages with Spam about 

the island in days gone by. A rebellion in Cuba 
against the power of Spain awakened much sympathy in Amer- 
ica, and it became necessary for the President to issue 
a proclamation warning all citizens against the violation 
of the neutrality laws. As we shall see this did not end the 
difficulty. 



breaks down. There are always chances for differences of opinion; but if 
party men, when chosen to office, fail to live up to promises, and the pre- 
tensions on which and for which they were elected, what is to happen 
to popular government? In connection with this bill, ugly charges of un- 
fair influence and even bribery were made, charges which appear to have 
had some foundation, but whether they were true or not, what are we 
going to do, if we can not rely on the principles and pledges of parties and 
party leaders? 

"We know", said Mr. Wilson, whose name was given to the tariff bill 
because it was reported by the Ways and Means Committee of the House 
of which he was chairman, "we know that not all who march bravely in 
the parade are found in the line when the musketry begins to rattle. Re- 
form is beautiful upon the mountain top or in the clouds, but ofttimes 
very unwelcome as it approaches our own thresholds". 

^See Constitution, art. i, sec. 2, § 3. A direct tax had to be distrib- 
uted among the states "according to their respective numbers". The 
constitutional question was whether a tax on incomes from whatever 
source derived was a direct tax. The court held that the tax was in so 
many cases direct, that the whole act was rendered void. 



TWELVE YEARS OF PARTY DISCUSSION 509 

At the end of 1895 more disquieting events occurred. Vene- 
zuela and Great Britain had long been contending concerning 
the proper boundary between the former state 
troubie^"^^"^ ^"^ ^^"^ British Guiana. The United States desired 
to bring about a settlement of the dispute by 
arbitration. Great Britain refused to submit the matter to 
arbitration, and questioned the right of the United States to 
interfere. Mr. Olney, the Secretary of State, was very de- 
termined, insisting that this Government had a right to inter- 
pose, and that such interposition was in line with the principle of 
the Monroe doctrine and in accordance with traditional Amer- 
ican policy. December 17th the President sent a message to 
Congress, with the correspondence that had passed between 
the governments. The message declared that inasmuch as 
Great Britain refused to submit to impartial arbitration, in the 
absence of other means of discovering the true lines in the dis- 
puted territory the United States should investigate the matter 
and come to its own decision. He advised, therefore, an appro- 
priation for a commission to make such investigation and to 
report its findings. "When such report is made and accepted", 
the President declared, "it will, in my opinion, be the duty of 
the United States to resist by every means in its power, as a 
willful aggression upon its rights and interests, the appro- 
priation by Great Britain of any lands or the exercise of govern- 
mental jurisdiction over any territory, which after investiga- 
tion we have determined of right belong to Venezuela". Con- 
gress immediately appropriated one hundred thousand dollars 
for a commission (December 18-20, 1895), and the President 
appointed its members. The country was startled by these 
proceedings, for no one had been aware that our relations with 
Great Britain were at all critical. There was considerable 
difference of opinion among the people as to the wisdom of Mr. 
Olney's dispatches and the President's message, and there 
was everywhere great interest and considerable, but not alarm- 
ing, excitement. 

While the commission was engaged in investigating the 
claims of England and Venezuela, the English and American 



510 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

governments continued to discuss the question in dispute by 
correspondence. England finally consented to leave the mat- 
ter to an international tribunal, two members of 
agree'd ITpon. which should be judges of the Supreme Court of the 
United States. To this Venezuela agreed. Thus 
war was avoided, and the difficulty determined in accordance 
with the precepts of civilization and not the instincts and pas- 
sions of barbarism. The President and the English ministry 
also agreed upon a treaty establishing a general court of arbi- 
tration, but this treaty the Senate rejected. 

As the election of 1896 approached, it was plain that the 
silver question could no longer be hidden or avoided; the re- 
peal of the Sherman Act had stopped the purchase 
of bullion by the Government, and far and near 
there was a demand for the free and unlimited coinage of the 
white metal: — let anyone with a few ounces of silver take them 
to the mint and have them coined into good, sound dollars. A 
fall in the price of commodities was charged to be due to a lack 
of sufficient money, to the fact that gold was not enough to 
meet the demands of trade. Why shut out silver, a great 
American product, from the mints? And back of all these 
charges and questions was the serious assertion that the "money 
power ' ' was holding the life of the common people in its steely grip. 

After the panic of 1893 the Federal Government found it 

difficult to keep a sufficient amount of gold in the Treasury 

, ^ J to assure the redemption of notes and United 

Issue of bonds. ^ i • i 

States securities in that metal. The President and 
his Cabinet believed that, if the gold should get so low that 
silver was used for such purposes, there would at once be great 
financial distress, and that our credit at home and abroad 
would be ruined. To secure gold the Government resorted 
to the sale of bonds, and in this way increased the national debt 
by over two hundred and fifty million dollars. This sale of 
bonds was very much condemned by many persons and as 
strongly defended by others.^ 

1 Some men spoke of this whole bond issue act with deepest bitterness. 
Cleveland was charged with surrendering the Government to the money 



TWELVE YEARS OF PARTY DISCUSSION 



511 



The Republican party nominated William McKinley, of 
Ohio, and Garret A. Hobart, of New Jersey. They declared 
in their platform: "We are opposed to the free 
coinage of silver except by intern3.tional agree- 
ment with the leading commercial nations of the 
world, which we pledge ourselves to promote, and until such 
agreement can be obtained the existing gold standard must 



The election, 
1896. 




Y 



The Election of 1896 

be observed". The Democratic Convention was a dramatic as- 
sembly, full of fire, of struggle, and of intense earnestness. 
Many of the members, especially the eastern 

The Democrats. , ,. , . . , . 

men, believed m gold comage and not m silver; the 
convention was divided between the conservatives on the one 
hand and, on the other, those totally out of patience with the 
existing conditions, which appeared to them all in favor of the 



sharks, and the result of this and other things was to divide the Demo- 
cratic party; some of the members defended the act and the whole course 
of the administration as wise, honest and just; other elements, resenting 
Cleveland's hostility to free coinage of silver, and insisting that selling 
bonds to Wall Street was a heinous offence, became implacable enemies. 



512 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

creditor class, the men who held the mortgages and owned the 
bonds. Mr. William Jennings Bryan, a young man from 
Nebraska, able, active and strong, an eloquent speaker, won 
the nomination of his party by an impassioned and powerful 
speech against the gold men. "You shall not", he exclaimed, 
''press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns! You 
shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold!" The People's 
^ , . party also chose Mr. Bryan as their candidate for 

Other parties. i • i • 

the presidency, but nommated Thomas E. Watson 
of Georgia for Vice-President. Mr. Bryan was likewise nomi- 
nated by a party calling itself the Silver party. A large number 
of Democrats were entirely out of sympathy with the platform 
adopted by their party, and held another convention, which 
nominated John M. Palmer, of Illinois, and Simon B. Buckner, 
of Kentucky, and declared in favor of the gold standard. The 
election resulted in the choice of McKinley and Hobart, and 
though the silver question came up again in 1900, the issue 
was never again as sharply drawn, and the permanence of the 
gold standard was assured. 

Few campaigns in our history have been so interesting or 
so well worth the time and energy given to them. No elec- 
tion since the Civil War has stirred the people so 
A campaign of deeply.^ Notwithstanding the excitement, it was 

education and . . ,. . , , 

thought. a. campaign of discussion and argument rather 

than abuse; it was a campaign of education. Cam- 
paigns of that kind go far to justify the whole principle of pop- 
ular government. Men are called on to think. Someone has 
wisely said that in human affairs, if society is to go on im- 

1 The Republicans said that the free coinage of silver meant the in- 
troduction of the fifty-cent dollar. The attack was answered in a campaign 
song: 

"You may say what you will of the fifty-cent dollar, 
But I tell you it beats none at all, all holler!" 

But there was not much of this sort of thing — the use of doggerel to 
convince the thoughtless; pamphlets were printed and circulated by the 
million; speeches were made everywhere; and men had to talk the best 
sense they could, because people wanted to know the truth. 



TWELVE YEARS OF PARTY DISCUSSION 513 

proving, thought is the important thing; — it is not of much 
consequence that men often make mistakes, it is of consequence 
that they think at all, instead of placidly letting a few men do 
the thinking for them. 

References 

Wilson, Division and Reunion, Chapter XIII; Dewey, National 
Problems, Chapters IV, V, VII-XI, XIII-XX; Haworth, Re- 
construction and the Union, pp. 120-174. 



34 



CHAPTER XXVI 



WAR WITH SPAIN— IMPERIALISM AND THE WHITE 

MAN'S BURDEN— 1897-1909 

When McKinley^ came to the presidential chair (1897),] 
there was a widespread feeling that now we were to have quiet;; 
the silver question was laid away; business was entering with^ 
leaps and bounds upon a new era of prosperity. The years > 
proved to be momentous ones in 
American histpry; before the end 
of the century the old continental 
United States had taken on new 
duties and cares; a new era had 
begun. 

The first thing that was done 

by McKinley's administration was 

to provide for more 

The Dingley i 

jgj.jg revenue and more 

protection. Two days 
after his inauguration the Presi- 
dent summoned Congress to meet 
in extra session. In his first mes- 
sage he called attention to the fact 
that for some years past the ex- 
penditures of the Government had 
exceeded the receipts, and said that there was an evident neces- 
sity for the prompt passage of a tariff bill which would provide 
ample revenue. Congress soon passed an act known as the 
Dingley tariff bill, which very materially increased the duties. 




^UJ'^^/JuI^^ 



' William McKinley was born in Ohio, was a soldier in the war, leaving 
the army with rank of major; was a representative in Congress from 1877 
to 1891, and was afterwards governor of Ohio. 

514 



IMPERIALISM AND THE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN 515 

The insurrection in Cuba, which had caused trouble in the 
United States and anxiety to the previous Administration, was 
still in progress, and was daily producing more and 
more restlessness and uneasiness among the people 
of America. Many persons felt, naturally, a sympathy with a 
people who were fighting for their independence from a nation 
whose colonial policy had consisted, from the beginning, in 
extorting as much as possible from the colony for the sake of 
the mother country, with little regard for the needs or the 
rights of the colonists. Moreover, the people of the United 
States were shocked by the methods used in the suppression 
of the rebellion, which were cruel in the extreme, entailing un- 
told misery not so much upon the soldiers in arms as on the 
women, children, and other non-combatants. A large portion 
of the whole island was laid waste, its commerce destroyed, 
while tens of thousands of its citizens died of want and starva- 
tion. American residents in Cuba were at times ill treated, 
and our Government forced to call upon Spain for indemnity. 
We were obliged to police our shores to prevent "filibustering 
expeditions" carrying arms, ammunition, and reenforcements 
to the rebels. American commerce with the island was in 
large measure broken up, and, though we had legally no right 
to complain of this inevitable result of the rebellion, the pa- 
tience of our people was so sorely tried that it fcecame 
evident that before long our Government would be com- 
pelled by Spain's own cruelty to demand a cessation of hos- 
tihties. In Cleveland's administration an effort had been 
made to induce Spain to grant Cuba self-government, if 
not independence; but Spain would have none of it, and, 
redoubling her energies to crush the rebellion, continued 
with greater zeal upon her appalling work of desolation and 
destruction. Renewed overtures from our Government, 
after Mr. McKmley became President, were met with as- 
surances that local self-government would be granted to 
Cuba, but it was now too late. The insurgents were not 
ready to accept anything less than mdependence, and the war 
continued. 



516 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

The situation, already full of trouble, was aggravated by 
an event which stirred the American people as few events in 
our history have done. The battleship Maine, 
disaster"^^ while lying in the harbor of Havana, was de- 
stroyed by an explosion and sunk, carrying down 
over two hundred and fifty sailors and officers. After a careful 
examination, a court of naval officers reached the conclu- 
sion that the ship was "destroyed by the explosion 
iSos"^*^^ '^' *-*^ "^ submarine mine, which caused the explosion 
of two or more of her forward magazines".^ After 
the rendering of the report it was apparent that war was im- 
minent. One is loath to believe that the Spanish Government 
was itself guilty of such an atrocious outrage; but some of the 
Spanish officers perhaps were, and if they were not, the disaster 
was an impressive proof of conditions in- Cuba that were 
intolerable.- 

Some further negotiations were carried on between the 

two governments, and though Spain now made concessions and 

promises, they produced little impression upon 

Negotiations. \ . ' , . , '^ 

the United States, which was weary of making 
remonstrances and peaceful representations and of waiting for 
the fulfillment of promises. The President sent a message to 
Congress, April nth, giving a history of the Cuban difficulty 

for the preceding three years, and asking Congress 
message. ^^ empower him "to take measures to secure a full 

and final termination of hostilities between the 
Government of Spain and the people of Cuba, and to secure 
in the island the establishment of a stable government capable 
of maintaining order and observing its international obliga- 
tions, insuring peace and tranquillity and the security of its 
citizens, as well as our own, and to use the military and naval 
forces of the United States as may be necessary for these 
purposes." 



^ In 191 1, the Maine was raised, and a re-examination apparently con- 
firmed the earlier conclusion. 

2 See President McKinley's message, April 11, 1898. 



IMPERIALISM AND THE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN 517 



ATLANTIC 



On the 19th, Congress passed a series of resolutions de- 
claring that the people of Cuba "are and of right ought to be 

Tree and independent ", demanding that Spain 
ac^ti^!^^'"*^ withdraw her troops and relinquish her authority, 

empowering the President to use the army and 
navy and to call forth the militia to enforce the resolutions, 
and disclaiming any disposition or intention to annex or ex-' 
ercise control over the island. 

Prompt steps were taken to carry these resolutions into 
effect. An ultimatum was drawn up announcing that Spain 

must before noon of the 23d of April give a satis- 
AprU 18 8 factory answer to our demands or the President 

would use force to compel acquiescence. The 
Spanish minister at Washington immediately demanded his 
passports, and the American minister at Madrid was given his 
before he could present 
the ultimatum. A fleet 
was at once sent from 
Key West to blockade 
Havana, and war was 
thus begun. A few days 
later Congress formally 
declared that war was in 
progress. The first de- 
cisive action of the war 

cost Spain her eastern dependencies. On the first day of May, 
Commodore George Dewey sailed into Manila Bay, in the Philip- 
pine Islands, and in a few hours destroyed the Spanish fleet- 
Not a life was lost on the American vessels. Land troops under 
General Merritt were soon sent to the Philippines, and the city 
of Manila was taken (August 13). In the meantime, fighting 
had been begun in Cuba itself and the adjacent waters. A 
Spanish fleet under Admiral Cervera left Spain soon after the 
outbreak of the war, and for a time its destination was un- 
known. There was some fear that the cities along the Atlantic 
coast might be attacked, but uneasiness on that score proved 
to be needless; for the Spaniards sailed from the Cape Verde 




Field of the Campaign in Cxjba 



518 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



Bashi Channel 



Islands to the northern coast of South America, and thence, 
after a short delay, to Santiago, a good harbor on the southern 
shore of Cuba, where for a time they were safe from attack, 
and where they could do no damage to the American marine. 

There for some weeks 
they were blockaded 
by a strong and well- 
equipped fleet under 
Admiral Sampson. 
The monotony of the 
blockade was relieved 
by a daring but un- 
successful attempt, by 
Lieutenant Hobson 
and a small crew, to 
block the harbor by 
sinking the Merrimac, 
an old merchant ship, 
in the channel of the 
harbor. Troops were 
shipped to Santiago, 
and were landed in 
the vicinity of the 
city. They attacked 
the defences of the 
place, and after some 
hard and brilliant 
fighting took San 
Juan Hill ' and El Caney. As there was no longer hope of 
retaining the city. Admiral Cervera determined upon making 
a desperate attempt to escape with his ships, which were 
no match for the blockading squadron. On the morning of 
July 3d, the Spaniards sailed out of the harbor, but the effort at 
flight was fruitless, and the whole fleet was destroyed. The city 
soon afterward surrendered to General Shafter. After this there 
was little serious fighting. An American army landed in Porto 
Rico, and took possession of the island without much opposition. 





^ Pl. CoToTiadt 
. Siassi«f%t"''' Sarangani Bay 



Manai 



^ 



I 



IMPERIALISM AND THE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN 519 

On the 1 2th of August preUminary terms of peace were 
agreed upon at Washington, the French minister acting in 
behalf of Spain. By the terms of this arrange- 
Irus't 1808 ment Spain promised to surrender all claim to 
Cuba, and to cede to the United States Porto 
Rico and all other Spanish islands in the West Indies, as well 
as an island in the Ladrones. It was also agreed that the 
I nited States should hold the city and harbor of Manila pend- 
ing the conclusion of a treaty w'hich should determine the final 
disposition of the Philippine Islands. Commissioners ap- 
pointed by both nations met at Paris and concluded a definitive 
treaty, in which Spain gave assent to all the express stipula- 
tions and promises of the preliminary agreement, and also 
gave up to the United States all sovereignty over the Philip- 
pine Islands. February 6, 1899, the treaty was ratified by 
the American Senate.^ 

It seems strange indeed that at the end of the nineteenth 
century the United States and Spain should be at war — a war 
growing out of Spain's colonial policy, and caused 
Spanish and jj^ j^j-ge mcasurc by the method of colonial admin- 
coionies. istration that marked the beginnings and fol- 

lowed the course of her history in the New World. 
The defeat of the Spanish armada, says a recent writer, with 
truth, was the opening event in the history of the United States. 
The beginning of English colonization in America was made 
with the hope that it would check the growth of Spain and 
undermine her strength. Who could have foreseen the long 
rivalry with Spain and the ultimate success of English and 
American institutions? Three centuries and a quarter ago an 
unknown Englishman, supposed, however, to be the intrepid 
Humphrey Gilbert, implored the Queen of England to give 
him authority to attack the Spanish shipping 
and the colonial establishments of the West Indies. 
"I will do it if you allow me ", he said; "only you must resolve 
and not delay — the wings of man's life are plumed with the 
feathers of death ". Time has proved that great national move- 
1 Twenty million dollars was given Spain for the Philippines. 



520 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

ments are not for a moment, and are not dependent on the 
resolutions or delays of a queen or a passing generation. 

During the progress of the war the annexation of the Hawai- 
ian Islands was finally consummated. A joint resolution was 
, passed through Congress providing for the ac- 

Annexation of ^ . . . ^ . , , , r i • 

the Hawaiian quisitiou of the islands and for their temporary 
Islands, July, government. A group of twelve islands, with an 
area of 6,677 square miles and a population of 
about 100,000 persons, one-half of them native islanders, was 
thus made American territory. 

Probably we cannot yet see with any fullness the mean- 
ing of this war and of the acquisition of lands beyond the 
sea; but plainly these facts meant much. The 
the wan"^*^^ ^ United States, by the acquisition of dependencies, 
"insular possessions", took upon itself new tasks. 
Its progress hitherto had been by a gradual western expansion, 
by reaching out for territory that lay at its very door; it 
had built itself up by the establishment of new settlements 
on its own territory, on land uninhabited by civilized men.^ 
Could the country, which had shown much marked capacity for 
subduing a continent and extending free government, manage 
wisely and successfully colonial establishments in distant 
parts of the globe? Such was the serious question with which 
men found themselves confronted; to that question only time 
can give answer. 

There was considerable opposition to annexation of the 

Philippines; and after annexation there was much opposi- 

. . tion to the retention of the islands. Some persons 

"Imperialism." . r ^^ • • i- 

protested agamst the pohcy of imperialism , 
the policy of holding a land and its people in a dependent 
condition, without the privileges and full rights of citizenship 
and without the hope of speedy entrance into the Union; they 
argued that such action meant a surrender of the fundamental 
principles of the republic. In reply, it was said that our evi- 

^ Alaska is, of course, an exception, for it was not contiguous territory; 
it was, however, sparsely inhabited, and its administration caused no 
particular difficulties. 



IMPERIALISM AND THE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN 521 



dent duty was to take the islands from Spain and give them 
good government; that the duty was not to be avoided by mere 
declarations of theory, or by any announcement of political 
maxims; that it was our business to assume the obligations 
that had come to us, — to assume the " white man's burden " 
in the islands of the 
far Pacific, and to 
care for outposts in 
the Orient like those 
of other nations. The 
work was boldly be- 
gun and, whatever 
mistakes may have 
been made since that 
day, an earnest effort 
has been directed 
toward giving the 
people of the Philip- 
pines honest govern- 
ment, good schools, 
and a new chance in 
the world. Whether 
America will succeed 
in maintaining a pol- 
icy based on unselfish 
service, must depend 
on the generous spirit 
of our people and on 
the demand they 
make for upright officials to represent them. 

Certain tasks demanding immediate attention were left 
in the train of the war. Some of these were quickly attended to. 
A civil government was established in Porto Rico 
Co°onill ^ ^y ^ct of Congress (April, 1900). In the Philip- 
pines, the natives, under the leadership of Aguin- 
aldo, broke out in rebellion against their new rulers. This up- 
rising was put down, but not without difficulty (1901). A new 




uud ct Cndi. 



Copyright, by Undt 

Old Glory Being Lowered in Honor, 

THAT THE StAR OF THE CUBAN REPUBLIC MAY 

Rise on the Palace, Havana, May 20, 191 2 



522 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

civil commission, provided for by Congress, took charge of the 
islands. Meantime, much was done to restore order in Cuba, 
and after the Cubans themselves had successfully founded a 
government the military forces of the United States were with- 
drawn. Of the greatest importance was the work of the Amer- 
ican officials in the new tropical, or semi-tropical, countries 
in improving sanitary conditions. Yellow fever was practically 
banished from Cuba, and in the Philippines a diligent and 
not unsuccessful struggle was made against cholera and the 
plague. 1 

In tracing these events, we have passed over the election 
of 1900. The Republicans nominated William McKinley 
and Theodore Roosevelt; the Democrats, Will- 
1000.'°° ^^"^ J- ^ryan and Adlai E. Stevenson. The plat- 

forms of the two leading parties contained no 
statement of new issues, save that the Democratic platform 
declared against the acquisition of dependencies and the forma- 
tion of a large standing army — the policy of the party was 
"anti-imperialistic". The Republicans were again successful, 
their candidates receiving 292 electoral votes out of the total 
of 447. 

President McKinley 's new administration had only well 

begun when he was assassinated by an anarchist at Buffalo, 

N. Y.; he was shot September 6, and died on the 

i/cKiniey 14^^, 1901. No word is needed here to tell of the 

sorrow of the people over this unspeakable crime. 



1 The discovery by Major Reed, a medical officer of the army, and others, 
that the germ of yellow fever is carried by a mosquito, and that in this 
manner the disease is communicated from a person sick with the fever to a 
well person, is one of the greatest and most beneficent discoveries of modern 
science. If proper precautions are taken, it is now possible to secure prac- 
tical immunity from the dreaded disease which has been the scourge of 
Cuba and other tropical countries, and has more than once wrought great 
havoc in the United States. The immunity from yellow fever and malaria 
during the building of the Panama Canal is due to the fight against the 
mosquito. If these brave men who experimented in Cuba had not dis- 
covered the deadly character of the pestiferous mosquito, the little animal 
could have made the work in Panama a deadly undertaking if not im- 
possible. 



IMPERIALISM AND THE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN 523 



Theodore 
Roosevelt. 



President McKinley had a personal charm of manner, and a 
noble temperament which won for him the affection as well as 
the respect even of those who were strongly opposed to him on 
party issues. 

Theodore Roosevelt at once assumed the duties of the 
presidency, announcing his intention to follow the plans and 
policies of his predeces- 
sor. The new president 
was a man who, though 
comparatively young for such a high 
position, had seen varied public ser- 
vice. He had taken an active part 
in the political work of the city and 
State of New York, had been a mem- 
ber of the Federal Civil Service Com- 
mission, had acted as Assistant Sec- 
retary of the Navy, and had served 
as an officer in the Spanish War. 
He had also distinguished himself in 
literature, achieving a well-earned reputation as a writer of 
history and biography.^ 

We may well end this chapter on expansion and imperialism 
with a word on the Panama Canal. The subject is a com- 
plicated one, for back of the situation as it was in 
1900, were a long series of diplomatic arguments 
with Great Britain, and a long list of troubles 
with the South American countries. President Roosevelt, 
not accustomed to shrink from responsibility and toil, entered 
joyfully into the task of settlement. The war with Spain 
had shown the value of the canal, for war purposes, if for no 
other, while our new duties in the Pacific added to the need of 




7^je-<rcUf'U. ^^irO**'%'*^e6- 



The Panama 
Canal. 



^ His most noted work is The Winning of the West, a brilliant history 
of the deeds of the frontiersmen in Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Old 
Northwest. His Gouverneur Morris, Thomas Benton, and The Naval War 
of 181 2 are also good and interesting books. Every boy should know 
his Hunting Trips of a Ranchman and his Hunting the Grizzly. Though 
well known by his brother historians as a successful writer, perhaps his 



524 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



easy water communication between the eastern and western 
seaboards. In 19CI, a treaty, with England, taking the place 
of one made in 1850, provided that the United States might 




The Panama Canal Zone 

own and defend the canal route and provide for its neutrality. 
Two years later the United States made arrangements for the 
purchase of the property and the rights of the old French canal 



best-known words to-day are those advocating the "strenuous life", the 
life of efJort, of struggle, of ambition, of progress, the life which shuns 
inglorious and selfish ease: "Let us, therefore, boldly face the life of strife, 
resolute to do our duty well and manfully; resolute to uphold righteous- 
ness by deed and by word; resolute to be both honest and brave, to serve 
high ideals yet to use practical methods". 



IMPERIALISM AND THE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN 525 

company which had already done some of the work and had 
indeed at one time made quite a display of vigor. 

With Colombia, however, through whose territory the canal 
was to be built, unexpected and provoking trouble arose; the 
little South American country wanted all she could get, and 




Copyright, by Underwood & Underwood 

The Culebra Cut on the Panama Canal 

apparently more, though nothing but benefit to her could arise 
from building the canal. When her minister at Washington 
made a treaty providing, on what seemed liberal terms for her, 
that the American government could build the canal and manage 
it, her government refused to ratify the treaty. Immediately 
Panama, then a part of Colombia, revolted, and we did not 
stop to parley or ask questions, but immediately recognized 
Panama, made a treaty with her and secured the title to a 
strip of land through her territory. Within a short time a 
commission was appointed and the work begun. It proved to 
be an arduous and immense undertaking. As we write these 



626 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

lines, the work is not completed. $400,000,000 or thereabouts 
have been expended or will be before the work is over, and 
the whole task has been carried on with wonderful skill and 
with admirable energy. The engineers in charge have been 
army officers and great credit is due them for the admirable 
manner in which the work has been carried forward. 

Thus when the twentieth century began, the sun looked 
down on a new United States, quite different from the row of 

little commonwealths that made up the Repub- 
United States ^^^ at the beginning of the nineteenth century. 

The American continent no longer held the whole 
of American territory; even in the far Pacific were American 
lands; if the acquisition of California and Oregon meant 
that we must be both an Atlantic and a Pacific power, 
the annexation of the Philippines and Hawaii made that fact 
more evident and gave it new force and significance. 

References 

Wilson, Division and Reunion, Chapter XIV; Sparks, National 
Development, Chapter XIII; Dewey, National Problems, Chapter VII 
(both on the previous history of the Isthmian Canal); Latane, 
America as a World Power, Chapters I-IX, XII; Haworth, Re- 
construction and the Union, pp. 175-194. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

THE TASKS OF THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY— 

1900-1913 

The early years of the twentieth century were taken up 
with discussions and with actions brought on by new condi- 
tions. First, there were foreign complications 
The early years arising out of our new positiou in the world; for 

of the new cen- '■ i . , 

tury. we were no longer unconcerned with what went 

on in the Far East; and that fact brought us into 
new relations with the powers of Europe which had their Eastern 
ambitions and duties. Second, there were the new duties of 
colonial administration. Third, there were the duties forced 
upon government and society by the immense growth of in- 
dustry and by the great internal development of the country, 
of which we have already spoken. 

There was at no time serious danger of war with foreign 
nations; but there were fine and delicate adjustments to be 
, , _ reached for the maintenance of peace and the 

John Hay. , . 

making of good understanding. John Hay, the 
Secretary of State, whom President McKinley appointed, and 
who continued till his untimely death to serve under President 
Roosevelt, was a great man and a wise one. Under him there 
was no rough bluster or bravado; with frank firmness, with 
clear insight and with a sense of sound justice, he went his way, 
scorning any attempt at sharp practice. If diplomacy is ever, 
what it was often said to be in times gone by, — a game of 
chance in which you try to get ahead of your opponent by 
superior cunning — it was not so under John Hay. The world 
was almost startled by the directness, simplicity and fairness 
of his methods and his proposals. Mr. Hay died in 1905; and 
after his death his general policy was pursued by our Govern- 
ment. 

527 



528 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

First among general foreign affairs, we may consider the 
Monroe Doctrine, the developed Monroe Doctrine. The 
Western Hemisphere we held to be our sphere 
Doctrine^"* of influence and we did not care for meddling. 
This position had its difficulties in the light of the 
fact, that we now claimed that we had something to say about 
Oriental affairs; for if the Western Hemisphere was our place, 
why should we not confine our attention to that and leave the 
Orient and Europe alone? We were prepared to leave Europe 
alone, but our foreign office asserted that although we were a 
Western power, we had interests in the East, too; and though 
the doctrine remained only a doctrine, we persisted in holding 
it. With the South American States efforts were made to 
reach a basis of a more friendly understanding than had al- 
ways existed in the past. ^ 

The general policy of the time was to take an active part in 

world politics, while not intruding upon European affairs, and 

to cultivate peace with all nations 'while strength- 
Worid politics. . ^ ^ , . ' , , , ^ 

enmg the navy and preparmg to defend our 

rights with force if necessary. Mr. Roosevelt was sometimes 

charged with flourishing the ''big stick", and many persons 

thoroughly disagreed with the theory that peace was best 

secured by a display of a big navy and by a readiness to fight. 

But certainly during these years the men in authority can not 

be charged with seeking war; on the contrary while America 

took a new and influential place in the world, principles of 

peace and arbitration rather than brute war were clearly 

presented. 

As days went by, our new duties and our new place of 
power in the Pacific became plainer. There was China, big, 
unwieldy, undergoing rapid change, but still of- 
fering, in her weakness and against her will, 
chances for European nations to make something out of her, 

1 Much was done by Elihu Root, the successor of Hay, as Secretary 
of State. He even visited personally some of the Latin-American States, 
and made a deep impression by his strong, simple assurances of good will. 



THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY— 1900-1913 529 

to seize parcels of territory, or to get special privileges in her 
harbors. America had no desire to see the old empire divided 
up into bits, each controlled by one of the European powers;, 
we desired nothing for ourselves but our legitimate influence 
and a chance for trade. The "Open Door in China" was our 
policy, — a fair field and no favors in all trade relations, — and 
American desires and policy could not be quietly ignored by 
Europe. 

The war between Japan and Russia was brought to a 
close by the Treaty of Portsmouth (1905) through the "good 

offices" of Mr. Roosevelt. The result of the war 

disclosed the fact that Japan was powerful and 
ambitious, a power always to be reckoned with in the settle- 
ment of Pacific questions. Hardly was her war with Russia 
over before our relations with her became strained, though it is 
hard to say w^hy they were or to point out any real cause for a 
feeling of distrust and uneasiness. The troubles, such as they 
were, were fortunately soon allayed. While affairs with Japan 
were still cloudy and uncertain, a great American battle fleet 
was sent around the world. Its appearance in the Pacific was 
taken as a sign that we were prepared to fight if necessary, — 
probably a needless sign; but when the American tars were 
cordially welcomed by the Japanese people and were given the 
"time of their lives", there was no more talk of war. The 
"demonstration" of the fleet in the Pacific became a spectacle, 
its visit to foreign parts a display, the trip an evidence of the 
general effectiveness of the navy. 

Our relations with England were extremely cordial; never 
before since the days of the Revolution were there such signs 

of good understanding, or such firm belief that 
arbUra^on^° the two English speaking nations must not fight 

or quarrel over differing opinions or conflicting 
interests.^ An old trouble over the Alaskan boundary was 
settled by arbitration. 

^ Preparations are being made for a great celebration of the hundredth 
anniversary of the Treaty of Ghent, to celebrate the passing of a century 
without war, — something better to shout over than fights and bloodshed. 
35 



530 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

The tasks of the Philippines were carried on vigorously 
and with righteousness. The claims of the friars to large areas 
in the islands were purchased by the government, 
and Cuba'''""^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ source of trouble was quietly dis- 
posed of. A representative government was given 
to the Philippine people; school teachers were sent to the 
islands to carry out the great work of education; and in many 
ways there were proofs that w^e did not mean to "exploit" 
the new territory or simply make the most out of it for our- 
selves. Cuba, too, was on more than one occasion saved from 
disorder and revolution; effort was made to steady the feet of 
the young republic as she trod the hard road of self-government. 

The passing years of the early century brought efforts to 
avoid the loss and horrors of war, and to escape if possible the 
burdens of an "armed peace", the maintaining of 
■Deace*'°°*° great armies and battle fleets. In 1898 an im- 
portant step had been taken in the calling of 
The Hague Conference for the discussion of peace. The con- 
ference, called by the Czar of Russia, met in 1899. In 1907 
a second conference met. A court of arbitration was established 
at The Hague at the first conference. 

After a time Great Britain and the United States agreed to 
submit to the tribunal all differences which they could not 
settle by ordinary diplomatic methods, provided these differ- 
ences did not "affect vital interests, the independence, or the 
honor of the two contracting states ". Agreements similar 
to this were made between the United States and France and 
with several other states. Differences between England and 
America concerning the Newfoundland fisheries, differences 
which had for many decades troubled the two nations, were 
submitted to the tribunal at The Hague, and authoritatively 
decided (1910). President Taft, in March, 1910, publicly de- 
clared that he saw no reason for not submitting all questions 
to arbitration.^ This question was taken up later (191 1) for 

^"Personally I do not see any more reason why matters of national 
honor should not be referred to a court of arbitration than matters of 
property or of national proprietorship. ... I do not see why ques- 



THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY— 1900-1913 531 



Elections of 
1904 and 1908 



consideration and treaties providing for general arbitration 
were entered into with England and France; but now (1913) 
have not been finally adopted. The unofficial peace 
societies of the world are said now to number nearly six 
hundred. 

The elections of 1904 and 1908 showed on the whole con- 
tentment with the Republican administration. In the former 

year, Theodore Roosevelt was chosen president. 

by a very large electoral majority, over Alton B. 

Parker, his Democratic opponent. The issue of 
the campaign which attracted most attention was the charge 
that the Republican National Com- 
mittee, using information obtained by 
the newly established Government Bu- 
reau of Corporations, extracted immense 
funds from the big corporations, who 
expected favors from the government in 
return. This claim, in an open letter, 
Roosevelt declared to be "atrociously 
false ".1 In 1908, Wm. H. Taft, who 
had been Roosevelt's Secretary of War, 
was chosen president over Mr. Bryan, 
who for the third time was put up by 
the Democrats. Mr. Taft announced 
his intention to follow the course of 
his predecessor and to carry out his 

policies. But trouble met him at the outset, and before the 
end of his term his own party was rent with dissension* of 
this we shall see something later on. 

During the Roosevelt administration, public sentiment 
was roused as never before to the evils of corruption in office 




tions of honor may not be submitted to a tribunal composed of men of 
honor, who understand questions of national honor, to abide by their 
decision, as any other questions of diiJerence arising between nations". 

1 It is absolutely impossible for us in a few words to tell the exact truth 
about the funds given to either party in their campaigns; it is almost im- 
possible to find out the facts. There is no doubt that for decades large 



532 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

and the dangers from business interests which sought to con- 
trol government or disregard the law.^ The President relent- 
lessly pursued the "grafters" who sought to cheat 
"eraf^ters"" ^^^ government and such officials as sought 
to make use of their positions unwisely but 
too well, for private gain in disregard of public duty. He 
preached the "square deal", declaring with emphasis that 
we must proceed " by evolution and not by revolution ". 
"We do not wish to destroy corporations; but we do wish to 
make them subserve the public good ". "All individuals, rich 
or poor, private or corporate, must be subject to the law of 
the land. . ."! Steps were taken to enforce the Sherman Anti- 
trust Law of 1890, which had been gently resting on the statute 
book. Suits were now begun in the courts to dissolve some of 
the combinations which were most openly and plainly organ- 
ized in defiance of the law.^ Mr. Taft carried forward this 
policy of attempting to restrain or dissolve the trusts; but the 
enforcement of the law met with serious difficulty. Before 
the end of Mr. Taft's term some people were seriously question- 
ing the policy of trying by law to prevent combinations; would 
it not be wiser, said they, to regulate business and put it under 
strict governmental supervision, than attempt to prevent the 
growth of big corporations and the absorption of the little ones 
into a single big one? 

sums had been given. The important thing is that the practice was now 
looked upon as bad. 

The awakening of public conscience to the vice of any such system is 
the important thing. That persons desiring government favors have, on 
more than one occasion, furnished funds for party contest is undeniable. 
Mr. Parker's charge and Mr. Roosevelt's denial in 1904 helped to clear the 
air. Here plainly enough is a great danger. Government must be kept 
clean by our keeping parties and party government clean. 

1 It is not my purpose here to intimate that all business or all "big busi- 
ness" is corrupt; such is far from the fact. But the old practice of contribu- 
ting funds to parties was bad. The insurance investigations in 1905 in New 
York showed that some corporations commonly gave money to one or both 
parties merely for influence and effect. 

^ In 1907 suits were begun against the American Tobacco Company 
and the Standard Oil Company, and they were finally, in Mr. Taft's term, 
dissolved. 



THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY— 1900-1913 533 

The tariff did not play a conspicuous part in the discussions 
of the times before 1908; but in that year there was evident 
uneasiness and a strong demand for a lowering of 
agaln*ioog. rates and a new adjustment. The Republican 
platform spoke in favor of tariff revision and this 
was commonly believed to be "revision downward". The 
Congress of 1909, soon after Mr. Taft's inauguration, took 
the matter up and finally passed the Payne-Aldrich Tariff 
law. It was bitterly attacked; and as vehemently defended. 
Its opponents declared that rates were insufficiently reduced, 
if reduced at all; its friends asserted that it was a substantial 
fulfillment of party pledges and was a real revision. Whatever 
may be said — and much was said — these features are note- 
worthy: (i) Native products of the Philippines were, by the 
law, to come in free of duty, — an act of justice to the islanders; 
(2) the principle of maximum and minimum rates was adopted, 
in accordance with which, in addition to the minimum duty 
necessary to real protection, there should be still higher duties 
on goods from foreign countries maintaining a tariff which 
discriminated against the United States; (3) a Tariff Board, 
to make a "scientific examination" of conditions and report to 
the President, was established. President Taft hailed this last 
provision as the beginning of real scientific, non-partisan study 
of the tariff question, a means of getting the whole thing out of 
politics. Congress also provided for a tax on corporations. 
Moreover, to settle the direct tax question^ an amendment 
was passed by Congress and submitted to the States for adop- 
tion. The purpose of the amendment is to give 
Ame^ndment Cougrcss powcr to Icvy direct taxes without the 
necessity of dividing the burden among the states 
on the basis of population as the constitution required. The 
growth of the country, the disappearance of state jealousies, 
the need of new and modern methods of taxation, all em- 



* The division of the Supreme Court on the income tax matter had 
aroused much unfavorable criticism. See the Constitution, art. i, sec. 2, 
§ 3, and sec. 9, § 4. 



534 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

phasized the need of the amendment.^ This amendment after 
full discussion was passed by the requisite number of states, three- 
fourths of the whole (1913), and became part of the Constitution. 
President Taft took up another problem of great magni- 
tude, — our trade relations with Canada. The great dominion, 

lying at our very door, and peopling rapidly 
ipiT^"*^' ^' through all its wide western domain, was cut off 

by our tariff and by hers from free exchange. The 
question arose. Was such a condition sound? Was it the 
best condition for both nations, or should freer intercourse 
be encouraged by lower rates made possible by mutual con- 
cessions? President Taft, strongly believing in the advan- 
tages to both nations, sought to reach an arrangement with 
Canada, providing for lower tariff rates by both the United 
States and the Dominion, and a reciprocity agreement was 
finally entered into. It went for naught, however. The meas- 
ure passed Congress; but the Canadian Parliament was un- 
willing to accept it. So for the time, at least, the old tariff wall 
stood. 

We have seen that the railroad problem was taken up in 
1887, when the Interstate Commerce Act was passed. The 

Commission worked valiantly to get results, but 

Interstate , . , a i -i i • 

Commerce ^ot always With succcss. As the railroads m- 

Acts, 1901, creased their mileage, as business everywhere 
1906, 1910. developed, the need of further regulation was 
evident. Charges of rebates, of discriminations and of unjust 
rates, filled the air; and, though conditions were not so bad as 
they had been before the Act of 1887 was passed, they were bad 

^ If wealth is, as it should be, the basis of taxation, there is no sense 
in distributing the burden among states in proportion to their population. 
The Constitution as formed contained this provision, probably because 
there were jealousies between the states, and, in the Convention of 1787, 
taxation was tangled up with the question of representation. If the tariff 
is to be reduced. Congress must be allowed to get money in other ways, and 
the internal revenue taxes on tobacco, etc., do not appear to be enough. 
The tariff problem is sufficiently difficult without its being complicated by 
restrictions on the power of Congress to get money by other means than 
customs duties. 



THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY— 1900-1913 535 



Postal savings 
banks. 



enough. Acts were now passed (1901, 1906, 191c) extending 
the power of the Commission, and further controlling the roads. 
The Commission was given power, not only to prevent dis- 
crimination as at first, but to compel the reduction of unjust 
rates, by fixing a maximum rate.^ 

Another important step was the 
establishment of the postal savings 
banks (1910). This 
act provided that cer- 
tain selected post offiices 
should receive money for deposit 
and pay two per cent interest on 
the sums deposited. This plan 
gives people, who have no con- 
venient banking facilities, or who 
have only small sums to deposit, 
an absolutely safe place of deposit, 
and encourages saving and thrift. 

So far in this chapter we have 
been talking of parties, and of 
political and diplo- 
matic tasks. Party 
differences and the 
problems of legislation were, how- 
ever, all, or nearly all, the result of 
social change and of industrial 
growth; — they came from the fact 
that new social needs were arising 
and that the immense development 
of the country, both in wealth and 
in population, had changed our 
methods of life; we were demanding new points of view and 
new activities on the part of the government. These con- 



Industrial and 
social growth. 




*5rt »n m III 

{;2 mmm 

:;< m m m 

^■f n: in m^ 

^ aim in 

!■< ») in >» 

■11! lU til HI 



^ 




Copyright by Underwood & Underwood 

A Modern Skyscraper 
Partially Completed 



^ The basis of the justice of controlling the railroad corporations may be 
seen from the follow'ng sentences, which are taken in larsre measure from 
F. A. Fetter's Principle'? of Economics, p. 534, etc. 

(i) Railroads enjoy peculiar privileges through their charters which 



536 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

ditions were not altogether new; we have seen that the great 
growth of the country in the thirty years or so after the Civil 
War brought problems in its train. But the growth went 
on without ceasing. Each passing year, the population was 
larger, the wealth was greater, the factories were more numer- 
ous or bigger. And yet, though men looked and wondered, 
it took time to realize what change the passing days were 
working, just as it took time in days gone by to realize the 
character and the difficulty of the slavery problem. The 
twentieth century was begun before men were fully alive to 
the new situation and the new tasks of adjustment. 

A glance at the situation reveals the following main facts: 

1. The first and most notable fact is the growth — one 
might almost say the appalling growth — of population. The 

. ^ census of loio showed that within the United 

The main facts. 

States proper there were 91,971,266 people. 

2. Moreover, soon after the century began, men realized 
that the West was gone; there was no longer a great area 
open to the western settler and offering opportunity to anyone 
who would till the wide acres. Territories had become states, 
and the great free land of the West had largely been taken up. 

3. The railroads had reached out over the country and 
had gone on extending until by 1910 they had over 236,000 
miles of track. They had thus brought all parts of the country 
together and made the settler on the western farm near neigh- 
bor to the city men of the East. In 1908 twice as many pas- 

they obtain from the Government. (2) They have in many cases ob- 
tained large grants of land from the federal and state governments. (3) 
The power of the railroad ofScials enables them to do things of an im- 
portant public character. (4) The old notion that the railroad was, like any 
other piece of private property, subject only to the will of its owners, is 
a notion unsuited to the position, power, and character of the railroad in- 
dustry. (5) The progress of consolidation places in few hands great finan- 
cial power and tremendous influence. 

It is now generally conceded that, though the government does not own 
the roads, regulation and control are necessary and are fully within the 
power of the government; but this right of the government to act, es- 
pecially in the matter of the amount of rates, was only gradually set up 
and maintained. 



538 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 






sengers were carried one mile as were carried in 1890, and in 
the same time the amount of freight carried actually trebled, 
or nearly so.^ 

4. With the growth of railroads came the concentration 
of business; this concentration was increased by the inven- 
tion of machinery which changed methods of work and made 
competition in many lines impossible. Village industries were 
supplanted; our clothes are no longer made by the village 
tailor or our shoes by the village cobbler; our medicines are 
not compounded by the village druggist; our flour is ground 
in Minneapolis; our beef is slaughtered in Chicago or Kansas 
City. Industry is not only immense, it is concentrated. Amer- 
ica has become one of the great manufacturing countries of the 
world; the value of the product equals that of both Great 
Britain and France. In the decade after 1897 more coal was 
mined than in all the previous history of America. ^ 

5. As the population increased, great cities grew up, the 
homes of new industries and points of distribution for products. 
Immigrants crowded into the cities, many of them ignorant 
of the simplest facts and conditions of the new world or of what 
we have been wont to consider normal American life.^ 

So all these conditions presented problems, many of which 
were discussed in political meetings, in gatherings at the country 
store, or by the fireside in the home. Even to those who saw 
this remarkable growth it was not always quite plain why 
conditions were what they were; but all felt that they were 
passing or had passed into a new era, and they felt the pres- 



' In i860 there were 30,626 miles of railroad in the United States; .n 
1890 there were 163,597; in 1909 there were 216,868. 

2 In i860, the wealth of the United States was sixteen billion dollars; 
in 1890, sixty-four billion; in 1910, one hundred and seven billion. 

' In 1880, 14,772,000 people lived in cities (and most of them were not 
very large) and 35,385,000 lived in the country (that is actually in the 
country or in places of less than 2,500 inhabitants). In 1910 42,623,000 
people lived in cities (some of the cities were very large) and 49,348,000 
lived in the country and in towns. In 1880 29.5% of the population 
was city population and 70.5% was country population. In 1910 46.3% was 
city population and 52.7% was country population. 



THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY— 1900-1913 539 

sure of a new social order and the weight of new burdens. Let 
us now consider what was done to meet some of these new 
conditions. 

The disappearance of the West, the realization that the 
country's resources were not really limitless, awakened in- 
terest in conservation of the national resources. 

Conservation. 

ihe old idea was that the land was boundless, the 
resources unlimited; all men had to do was to conquer nature 
and overcome the wilderness; but facts were beginning to 
open people's eyes to the need of saving, for the next genera- 
tion would wish to use iron and lumber and would need land 
for grazing cattle. 

The land was largely taken up, but there were forests that 
must be preserved; water courses that must be protected; water- 
power sites that needed to be saved; mineral deposits that 
ought to be guarded as part of the national heritage. Conser- 
vation included two ideas: first, the precaution against waste 
and extravagance in the use of national resources; second, 
saving the undeveloped mines and water courses for the people 
at large and not allowing them to be turned over for a song to 
corporations or individuals who would themselves reap the 
lion's share of the benefits. Conservation means, according 
to Mr. Roosevelt, utilizing the natural resources of the nation 
in a way that will be of most benefit to the nation as a whole. 

Because the need of protecting and using the water courses 
was beginning to attract attention. President Roosevelt, in 
March, 1907, appointed an Inland Waterways Commission. 
Out of this movement came a great meeting at the White House 
(May, 1908), made up of State governors, federal congressmen, 
other ofiicials, and invited guests. "Never before in the his- 
tory of the nation had so representative an audience gathered 
together". In presenting the purpose of this assembly Presi- 
dent Roosevelt aptly said: "We are prosperous now; we 
should not forget that it will be just as important to our de- 
scendants to be prosperous in their time ". The result of the 
conference was new and widespread interest in conservation, 
a movement of the highest importance in the life of the nation. 



540 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



Reclamation of 
arid land. 



A conservation commission was appointed, and other con- 
ferences were held. In Roosevelt's administration and that 
of his successor, Mr. Taft, large portions of the public land 
were withdrawn from public entry; for the time being, at 
least, they were not to be sold. The lands included water- 
power sites, mineral lands, and important forests. 

Early in Mr, Roosevelt's first term the task of reclaiming 
desert lands by irrigation was begun. In 1902 the Reclamation 
Act was passed by Congress, providing that the 
proceeds from the sale of the public lands in the 
arid or semi-arid regions should be used to build 
irrigation plants. Great dams and reservoirs were built. In- 
side of ten years twenty-six projects were approved by the 

Secretary of the Inte- 
rior. Work began on 
nearly all of them and 
was carried rapidly 
forward. The great 
Shoshone dam in Wy- 
oming is the highest 
dam in the world, be- 
ing 32S feet from the 
lowest foundation to 
the top. Water in 
the reservoir will irri- 
gate over 150,000 
acres. It is estimated 
that altogether, in- 
cluding the lands irri- 
gated by both private 
companies and by the 
State and national 
governments, there are 
some 13,000,000 acres 
under irrigation, and 
that there is w^ater available for five times as many acres in 
addition. 




Copyright by Underwood & Underwood 

A Modern Harvesting Machine 



THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY— 1900-1913 541 

The opening up of the new West, the development of machin- 
ery, and the increase in population was accompanied with in- 
creasing production of agricultural products. The 
dSll^pmett. imagination can scarcely grasp the facts, and 
figures simply daze the mind. In i860, there were 
some 25,000,000 cattle on the farms and ranches of the whole 
country; in 1910, there were 69,000,000; the value in 1910 was 
ever $5,000,000,000. Immense cornfields stretching over the 
prairie lands of the middle west produced fabulous crops. The 
country produced in 191 2 over 3,000,000,000 bushels of corn. 
It we should place the corn in bushel baskets in a line, each 
basket occupying two feet, the line would circle the earth 
forty-five times at the equator! 

The development of the railroad system, and the invention 

of machinery caused the concentration of population and the 

building up of big corporations with large capital 

Machinery and ■, • ttt 1 , , ■, 

big industry. ^^^ mimense power. We have already seen how 
the fact brought up problems to be met and solved 
if possible by legislation. We are all now interested in what 
the great industrial companies of the land are doing, for no 
portion of the United States is so remote, no one leads such a 
separate life, that the factor}^ to him is unimportant. The 
farmer of Dakota or the ranchman of Wyoming is affected by 
what is done in factories at Chicago or Pittsburg; no village 
is so isolated that it is self-dependent. We all live on manu- 
factured goods; it may be almost said that wheat and corn are 
made rather than gro-mi, for everj^thing is done by machinery'; 
the modern farmer needs to be a mechanic as well as a farmer; 
corn is planted, cultivated and cut by machinery, and some- 
times stripped of its ears and stowed away by machinery. 
WTieat is cut and threshed by machinery; and then whirled 
away by railroads, stowed in elevators by machinery', — in fact 
it seems as if we do everj'thing by machinery' but eat and sleep. 
All this means a general interest in what is done in the big 
factories and by the corporations. 

One of the wonders of recent years has been the development 
of the iron and steel business. In 1867, the United States 



542 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

i 

produced 19,643 long tons of steel; in 1909 it produced ovem 

23,000,000 long tons. Steel has come to be used for all sorts 

of purposes: ships and railway cars are made 

The steel + f v 1, ^ • u i » • ' 

business. out ot it; huge towering skyscrapers ini 

the larger cities have skeletons of bolted steel;; 
we live in an age of steel. The tendency of modern industry^ 
is shown by the formation of the United States Steel Corpora- 
tion, an immense concern, which turns out an enormous product. 
Organized in 1901 by the combination of various companies, it 
began its work with a capital of $1,100,000,000. By 191c it 
had paid over $726,000,000 in dividends to its stockholders.^ 

The big corporations, especially if they come near to mon- 
opolizing the business, that is to say, practically controlling 
it, of course arouse hostility and are a source of 
Control of cor- ^^^j concern; for what is to prevent their being 

porations and ... . , , . . 

watered stock, absolute masters of the situation, holding m their 
hands what have become the real necessities of 
life? Perhaps common sense and real business interest would 
always prevent totally unreasonable charges; but in recent 
years there has come the belief, shared by many men who are 
themselves interested in big business, that government regu- 
lations and supervision are desirable, for the protection of 
the public welfare. Connected with this question is that of 
overcapitalization, and of "watered stock"; many corpora- 
tions have a capital on paper far beyond the actual amount 
of money or property put into them. Is it just and fair that 
they should expect to pay interest to their stockholders on 
the "water", on the amount beyond the actual investment? 
Is the "water" property to be respected? In some cases the 
answer to this question is not so easy as it may seem. But the 
problem of reaching justice in the control and the taxation of 
corporations, and especially the problem of limiting rates of 
railway, gas, water companies, and the like, is made more 
difficult by the existence of watered stock. 

^ The American Tobacco Company and the Standard Oil Company 
are other examples of immense combinations. These were dissolved in 
1910-H by the courts, as we have already seen. 



THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY- 1900-1913 543 

With the development of industries, the labor problem 
reached new proportions. In 1902, a great coal strike in the 

hard-coal fields of Pennsylvania caused much 
capital!'* suffering to the miners, and in fact to consumers 

also over a large part of the Union. Through the 
personal participation of President Roosevelt, who secured the 
appointment of an able board to investigate the trouble and to 
arbitrate the differences between miners and mine-owners, 
the strike was brought to an end, but not until public atten- 
tion and interest had been thoroughly aroused. The question 
was asked. Is coal mining only a private business, if the re- 
sult of a quarrel between miners and owners can cause suffering 
and bring want to miUions of people? Or should there be, 
must there be, a sense of public responsibility on the part of 
both elements in such a controversy, and should the govern- 
ment, as representing all of us, have something to say about 
it? After the settlement of the coal strike, there were other 
large strikes in various industries. It appears, on the whole, 
however, as if there were a growing readiness on both sides to 
reach conclusions by arbitration. There appears to be a grow- 
ing sense that the public has an interest and, though this ques- 
tion has troubled thoughtful men of America for a generation 
and is still with us and may be for years to come, there is hope 
of an understanding. Perhaps the problem of women workers 
in the great cities is the most difficult; but the ending of the 
garment-workers' strikes in New York and Chicago (1910- 
191 1) gave hope of ultimate triumph of right conditions. 

The problem of the wage earner was also discussed from 
another point of view. His welfare is the welfare of all. In 

some States, legislation has recently been passed 

limiting hours of labor in particular industries. The 
working hours of women have been shortened, and a strong 
movement against child-labor has begun. That children should 
be shut up for long hours in close factories, doing over and over 
again some little thing whose very repetition seems to stunt the 
body and dull the mind, can hardly be allowed permanently 
in a country which realizes that its future is in the hands of 



544 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

its children and that no amount of cheap cotton or of cheap 
shoes is compensation for stunted and benumbed youth. Be- 
tween 1 904-1 9 ID child-labor laws were passed in one form or 
another in various States, and Congress legislated in a whole- 
some way for the District of Columbia. 

Old-age pensions have been provided in some European 
countries, and in the first decade of this century Americans 

began to think of the subject. It was all well 
penshfns. cnough to talk lightly about opportunity when 

the great West was open, and when in the simple 
life of a generation ago the problems of wealth and poverty 
were not pressing. Many people began to think that the time 
had come to do more than send the indigent aged to the poor- 
house. This remains a perplexing question which is now oc- 
cupying the attention of American philanthropists and of 
some legislative bodies.^ 

This discussion of pensions is only an illustration of a new 
humanitarian sentin^ent which new conditions of life in part 

produced. New problems and new needs for help 
li^uuy!'^^ arose on all sides. Especially there appeared 

need for new legislation concerning injuries suf- 
fered by workmen in course of their work. This subject, like 
so many others of significant social bearing, became prominent 
in the first decade of the century. A New York commission 
appointed to consider the question declared that the conclu- 
sion had been surely coming that the existing conditions were 
intolerable. Under the law, the workingman could often 
obtain compensation for injuries only with great difficulty, and 
if he were shown guilty of "contributory negligence", he could 
obtain nothing at all. Really the risks of the business, as far as 
life and limb and health were concerned, were largely thrown 
on the workingman, not on capital. Some acts have been 
passed by Congress and by State legislatures, providing that 
the employer take responsibility and make compensation in 

1 Some large corporations, notably the American Telephone Company, 
have provided for pensions for employees. 



THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY— 1900-1913 545 

case of accident.^ A New York act, however, imposing ]ia - 
bility on the employer was held unconstitutional, as depriv- 
ing the employer of his liberty and property "without due 
process of law ".^ The Steel Corporation, the International 
Harvester Company and other companies have put into effect 
liberal systems for relief and care of workmen injured in 
course of their work. 

Of a similar character is the agitation over the minimum 
wage, the principle of wliich is that every employer of labor 

should give to his employees receiving the small- 
Mrnunum ^^^ wagc at Icast a certain amount, which may 

be reasonably considered sufficient to keep the re- 
cipient from actual want. If a business does not pay its em- 
ployees sufficient for them to live on, that business is in part 
not self-supporting; it is partly run at public expense, for the 
public must in one way or another bear the burden of support. 
This matter has been taken up for legislative consideration, 
and large corporations have begun to act upon the principle 
of announcing a minimum wage. So far (1913) the discussion 
has been chiefly confined to the wages of women. That such a 
matter should be discussed at all discloses to us how far we 
ha^•e gone from the old idea that everybody should be allowed 
to manage his business as he wishes, and that competition alone 
must settle wages and prices and everything else. 

During the years under consideration the great cities 
showed more clearly than ever before the new duties and 
responsibilities that rested on American democracy. There 
were not only the questions of securing better government, 

' As the employer may have to pay a good deal to an injured workman 
or his family under these laws, it is customary for the employer to insure 
with an accident insurance company and thus, by paying the insurance 
premium, the cost is thrown directly on the business. 

- The New York decision was strongly attacked as bad law and helped 
to strengthen a feeling already held by some men that the courts in passing 
on constitutional questions are over-technical and do not permit sufficient 
freedom and progress in legislation. It helped to bring in the demand fo;; 
"the recall of decisions" which was advocated by Mr. Roosevelt and 
others in igi2. 
3G 



546 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

but of making the city a good and pleasant place to live in. 

Public parks, playgrounds, wider streets, public bathing places, 

better health laws, purer milk, better water; 

City problems. . , . . 

these are the matters that occupied an mcreasmg 
share of public attention. 

Public transportation in cities is a matter which affects 
everyone within their limits. With the increase of popula- 
tion and the building of huge skyscrapers, the 
streets of the cities were not broad enough to 
take care of the throngs of people. It was apparent that rapid 
transit must go below the surface of the streets of the larger 
cities. Subways were built, the most extensive that in New 
York, through which electric trains can run from one end of the 
island to the other. 

Moreover, there came in the course of these years a fuller 
appreciation of the interest of the public in the ownership 
and administration of transit facilities in cities. In Chicago 
the street railway problem found a solution in part by an ar- 
rangement for the city's obtaining part of the net profits; in 
New York the subway is owned though not managed by the 
municipality. The old plan of giving away the valuable right 
to use the streets has largely been abandoned. No greater 
change in American city life came in the early years of the cen- 
tury than that indicated by the fact that public service cor- 
porations came to see that they must act on the principle of 
pleasing the people and giving good service. The public has 
an interest, and that interest must be considered. 

Wherever one turns in the larger cities, he sees the new 
undertakings which men faced in this decade of readjustment 
and enterprise. The housing of the poor and the 
ordinances enforcement of building ordinances that would 
give reasonable security against fire were subjects 
much discussed. The history of the decade shows some im- 
provement; but shocking disasters like the Iroquois fire in 
Chicago (1903) are still possible; and unsanitary tenements 
still exist, a menace to the health and safety of the whole com- 
munity. 



THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY— 1900-1913 547 

A number of cities have in the last decade adopted the 
commission system of city government. It is intended to do 

away with the great number of elective officers, 
syslem.™™^^^'"'^ to aboHsh the wards, to put all authority, both to 

pass ordinances and administer them, into the 
hands of a small commission. The plan, so far adopted in 
about 150 cities of small or medium size, has, on the whole, 
proved successful and helped to bring about economy and gen- 
erally efficient government. Our whole governmental system 
from city ward to federal government is so complicated that a 
reduction of the number of local officers to be elected and the 
centering of responsibility upon a few persons would seem to 
make it easier to simplify the task of popular control.^ 

The control of government and of parties by the people 
has been much discussed since the beginning of the twentieth 

century. In many States, the direct primary has 
of'government. Supplanted the old-time caucus and convention. 

The Referendum, now widely advocated, provides 
that on demand a proposed legislative measure be submitted 
to the people for acceptance or rejection. The Initiative is a 
process whereby a certain number of people may secure the 
submission to popular vote of a measure which they themselves 
propose. The initiative and referendum have been adopted 
in a number of States, — most of them in the West, — and in 
some cities. The Recall, whereby the people may by vote 
cause the retirement of an official before the expiration of his 
term, has also been much discussed and has been provided for 
to some extent in the West. 

Before the end of Roosevelt's term it was evident that 
there were strong dissensions in the Republican ranks, and 
„ the differences came out strongly in the early 

Progressives. ... . 

years (1909-1910) of Mr. Taf t s admmistration, 
especially in the tariff debates and in the discussion of the new 
Interstate Commerce Act. There were a number of men in 



^ The "short ballot" movement is aimed at the decrease of the number 
of elective officers. 



548 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

Congress who were called "Insurgents"; they wanted to go 
further than the older party leaders in reduction of the tariff, 
in the regulation of railroads, and in other matters of consider-n 
able popular interest. They were restless under what they con- • 
sidered the unwise and rigid control exercised by the leaders of ' 
the party in Congress. Outside of Congress there was a good 
deal of sympathy with the Insurgent movement. The name 
"Progressive" came into use to distinguish this element from 
those who adhered to the program and the leadership of the 
old-time Republicans. As in all such cases, it is not easy to 
mark the differences. But the Progressives especially cham- 
pioned, in addition to s reduction of the tariff, certain measures 
which they claimed would reestablish democracy and give the 
people more immediate and fuller control of their parties and 
their governments: (a) Popular election of senators; (b) nomina- 
tion by direct primaries; (c) popular election of delegates 
to national conventions, or even the popular choice of candi- 
dates for the presidency; (d) more general introduction of 
the referendum, initiative, and recall. In the Congressional 
election of 1910, the Democrats were successful in electing a 
majority of the House. They thus held a majority for the first 
time in eighteen years. Some of the States that had been 
Republican chose Democratic officers. 

As the campaign of 191 2 approached, these differences in 
the Republican ranks became more evident; and it was plain 

that the Democrats also had their troubles. In 
101^2^ ^'^ ^°°^ ° ^"^^^ party there was an element dissatisfied with 

existing party conditions. The Republican party 
meeting in June in Chicago was a scene of strenuous conflict, 
for one element of the party, supported Mr. Taft for renomi- 
nation, the other, Mr. Roosevelt, who represented the "progres- 
sive" tendencies of the party. The convention, after long and 
bitter debate, chose Mr. Taft, amid charges from the supporters 
of Mr. Roosevelt that the whole proceeding was — to use a milder 
word than the one commonly used — unfair. Mr. Sherman 
was again nominated for the vice-presidency. The Roosevelt 
delegates refused to vote at all on the final ballot for nomina- 



THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY— 1900-1913 549 



•■ tion, and immediately, meeting by themselves, announced 
their intention of forming a Progressive party and nominating 
a candidate for the presidency. In August Mr. Roosevelt 
and Mr. Hiram W. Johnson of California were put in nomina- 
tion by the new party. 

The Democratic convention at Baltimore had its own 
stormy time, but the party did not break apart. Governor 






Democratic U35 
Progressive 88 
Republican 8 






IjIP^ 



iy % 



The Election of 191 2 

Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey was nominated after a long^ 
hard struggle and with him as candidate for the vice-presi- 
dency, Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana; both of whom are 
held to belong to what was called the progressive element of the 
party. The Socialists ^ and the Prohibitionists also nominated 

1 It is impossible in a few words to give the position of the Socialists 
or to define Socialism. They demand the giving up of the whole capitalistic 
regime. The program of the Socialist party should be known by the 
careful student of American politics. Many of the things in the Progressive 
platform were called socialistic because they advocated more extensive 
governmental control of industry than we have been accustomed to. Those 
are the questions which are now in the air and we must make up our minds 
how to answer them or how much to accept. The Socialist platform of 
1912 asked for "collective ownership" of telegraphs, telephones, railroads. 



550 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



The tariff. 



candidates, and the former party polled in the election a larger 
vote than ever before. 

The Republican party advocated "scientific" investigation 
by a tariff board while insisting on the maintenance of an effec- 
tive protective tariff. The Democrats proclaimed 
once again the principle of a tariff for revenue 
only; but during the campaign, while stressing the evils of the 
tarifif, they said they did not propose to bring confusion and 
disorder by hurried and sweeping changes. The Progressives, 
with a platform advocating, like the Republican platform, a 
scientific study of the tariff, did not spend much time in dis- 
cussion of that matter but advocated principles of social re- 
form and of civic betterment, and announced that the two older 
parties were untrustworthy and boss-ridden. It is an impor- 
tant fact that the Progressives did 
thus stress demands for legislation 
to improve industrial conditions. 
Whatever may be the success or the 
failure of the Progressive party in 
the future — and of that we can have 
little or no idea — the program of 
social change is here for discussion, 
and that is significant. 

Wilson and Marshall were elected 
by an immense majority of electoral 
votes and had a great 
^dTauStd. popular plurality. Mr. 
Wilson's inaugural ad- 
dress was a noble call to duty and 
to effort. To him and the younger 
element of the party which he rep- 




;^^4^r^^^.'>w^ 



grain elevators, mines, forests and water-power, land where collective 
ownership is practicable, and banking; it asked for the shortening of hours 
of labor, the abolition of the Senate and of the veto power of the President, 
the abolition of the restrictions on the amendment of the Constitution, 
the calling of a convention to revise the Constitution, and many other 
social, industrial and political changes. 



THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY— 1900-1913 551 

resented, the times spoke of progress toward a fuller realization 
of the great ideals of the Republic. He made Mr. Bryan his 
Secretary of State, and soon after his inauguration summoned 
a special session of Congress chiefly to consider the tariff. And 
thus at the beginning of 1913, the Democratic party was again 
in power with an able leader at its head — the second Demo- 
cratic president since Buchanan. Opposed were two strong 
parties and the Socialist party also, which was no longer a 
negligible factor. 

References 

Latane, America as a World Power, Chapters X-XVIII; Ha- 
WORTH, Reconstruction and the Union, Chapters VIII, IX. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

DEMOCRATIC ASCENDANCY— THE TARIFF— FINANCIAL 
REFORM— FOREIGN COMPLICATIONS, 1913-1916 

The years of President Wilson's administration proved to 

be filled with interest and with difficulty. We are still too near 

the events themselves to get the proper outlook 

Problems. , , . , i 

upon them and to see, with assurance, what are 
the really fateful and important happenings as distinguished 
from those less influential or significant. Still we are justified in 
saying that few periods in our history have been more trying or 
filled with greater perplexity. Here we can give only a brief 
outline of events and accomplishments without attempting to 
make the generalizations that future writers of history may 
rightly allow themselves. 

Some of the matters which were under serious consideration 
during the years before 1913, and of which we have already 

spoken, appear to have lost general popular interest 
Popular jj^ ^YiQ succeeding years. There was at least no 

marked extension in the initiative and referendum 
and the recall in the states, about which so much had been said 
previously. These methods of popular control of government 
are still (19 16) more widely used in the Far West than in the 
middle and eastern states, and there is still difference of opinion 
concerning the wisdom of adopting them and as to whether they 
have been beneficial where they are in use. On the other hand, 
partly as a consequence of the disputes in the Republican 
Convention of 191 2, many states established plans for direct 
primaries for electing delegates to the national conventions 
and for expressing preferences as to who should be nominated. 
Of the delegates chosen to the national convention of 19 16, a 

552 



DEMOCRATIC ASCENDANCY 553 

majority came from states having this preference primary- 
system.^ 

In 1 9 13, the Seventeenth Amendment of the Federal Con- 
stitution was adopted. The amendment provided for the 

election of senators from the states by the vote of 
Am^rdment ^^^ people, thus doing away with the old system of 

election by state legislatures. Like the Sixteenth 
Amendment adopted in the same year^ the subject of this 
amendment had been long under discussion. It was partly the 
product of the general movement in the direction of a more 
immediate and direct participation of the people in the govern- 
ment, of which we have seen various evidences,^ and partly the 
product of a very evident situation — the fact that the state legis- 
latures were often so absorbed by the task of electing senators, so 
distracted and, at times, so disturbed by partisan conflicts, that 
state business was sadly interfered with. 

The woman suffrage movement, which had at various periods 
in the past century awakened considerable interest and enlisted 

some support, took on new vigor in the first decade 
Suffra" ^^ ^^^ present century. A number of states, the 

great majority of the states, in fact, of the western 
coast and the mountain regions, extended voting rights to 
women before 19 14. The next two years saw little advance, and 
almost no progress in the central states and the East, several 
of the eastern states voting against amendments to their constitu- 



^ The people thus by ballot elect delegates to the national convention 
and also express preference for presidential candidates. There are many- 
important questions, quite unsettled, as to how this preferential system will 
work. The practical problems are worth careful watching. If delegates are 
not pledged or definitely instructed, must they vote for the candidate in the 
conv^ention for whom the majority of voters in the state have expressed 
preference? If they ape pledged or instructed, on how many ballots must 
they vote according to instructions — more than one? What may be said 
in general to be the effect of the preference? It is to be noticed that no 
plan is provided for nominating presidential candidates without a national 
convention at all. 

- See pages 533, 534, ante, and see the Constitution in the Appendix. 

^ Direct primary, initiative and referendum, etc. 



554 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

tions. Illinois, in 1913, without amending the constitution, 
provided by legislative enactment for the right of women to 
vote for certain ofi&cers, viz., for presidential electors and for 
state and local officers whose election by the state constitution 
is not in the hands of male voters.^ 

When President Wilson came into oflSce it was known that 
he sympathized with the more radical or more "progressive" 
element of his party and people; at least he was 
The President's j^q^ satisfied with political and commercial condi- 
beiiefs. tions. His book called " The New Freedom " urged 

the necessity of "fitting a new social organization 
to the happiness and prosperity of the people." Doubtless 
many people feared that he would commit himself and seek to 
commit the Government to new and dangerously radical 
measures. The writer of these lines has seen no evidence of 
strong discontent with the Administration on the score of its 
being radical, visionary, or destructive. Doubtless the President 
believed in some such way as did Jefferson in 1800, that in his 
election a new era for the people was ushered in; but probably 
it is wise and safe to say that nothing peculiarly destructive 
has been attempted. 

The President appears to have believed that closer relations 

should be maintained between the executive and the legislature. 

He has not hesitated to use his influence to obtain 

The President ^-^q passage of measures by Congress and has on 

and Congress. '^ ° , ,. . 

several matters under discussion spoken out with 
distinctness. With hopes of creating a closer relationship, he 
has personally appeared before Congress; abandoning the 
practice of presenting only written messages to that body — a 
practice uniformly followed since Jefferson came to the chair — 
he has read his annual messages to both Houses, and has on a 
few other special occasions used a like method of presenting his 



1 It is probable that the comparative lack of interest in some subjects 
which were widely discussed and debated before the summer of 1914, was 
due to the outbreak of the European War and the multitude of absorbing 
questions which arose here in consequence of it. 



DEMOCRATIC ASCENDANCY 555 

views on matters of public importance. It is not now clear that 
by this method much has been accomplished in the way of 
establishing greater unity or cooperation. Probably we can 
wisely say that the personal interviews between the President 
and injfluential leaders in Congress, especially those of his own 
party, will long be, in the future, as in the past, the chief agency 
for making and maintaining mutual understanding^ — as it is 
sometimes said, "bringing the two ends of Pennsylvania 
Avenue together." 

Naturally, as the Democrats had taken a stand against the 

tariff — at least against the high Republican protective tariff — 

President Wilson took up the question soon after his 

The tanflf. . . _ _ ^ ^ . 

mauguration. To Congress m special session 
April, 1913, he sent a message advocating a prompt and thorough 
revision of the tariff. Among other things he made plain that 
he believed that competition was of greater value than protec- 
tion, if protection shielded and defended, and hence perpetuated, 
incompetent industry: 

"We must abolish everything that bears even the semblance 
of privilege or of any kind of artificial advantage, and put our 
business men and producers under the stimulation of a constant 
necessity to be efficient, economical and enterprising, masters of 
competitive supremacy, better workers and merchants than any 
in the world. Aside from the duties laid upon articles which we 
do not, and probably cannot, produce, therefore, and the uties 
laid upon luxuries and merely for the sake of the revenues they 
yield, the object of the tariff duties henceforth laid must be 
effective competition, the whetting of American wits by contest 

1 One of the values of our party system lies in the fact that it aids in 
producing harmony in action and purpose between the President and 
Congress, and, in the states, between governors and legislatures. Sometimes 
the majority in one or both houses does not belong to the same party as the 
President. When that is the case, there is likely to be more or less disagree- 
ment, though it has not very seriously affected governmental action as a rule. 
That there should be distinct cooperation and understanding between the 
executive department, which we might call the revenue spending branch, 
and Congress, the revenue raising branch, students of government would 
generally declare to be desirable. 



556 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

with the wits of the rest of the world." After prolonged discus- 
sion the new tariff bill, known as the Underwood bill, was enacted 
(signed October 3, 1913) into law. It provided for substantial 
reductions of duties on imported articles. Raw wool was put 
on the free list, while the duties on woolens were greatly lessened. 
The chief reductions, besides those on wool and woolens, were 
in duties on cotton goods, flax and hemp and goods made from 
them, iron and steel, sugar and agricultural products. Among 
the important provisions of the new law was one to secure 
revenue by the taxation of incomes. It levies a tax of one 
per cent, on all incomes in excess of $4,000 per year if the recip- 
ients are married, and in excess of $3,000 if single. On incomes of 
more than $20,000, larger taxes are levied in accordance with 
the principles of graduation.^ 

Next in order after the modification of the tariff came plans 
for legislation on the currency and banking. The subject had 

been discussed in and out of Congress for a good 
® ... many years. In 19 13, largely under the influence 

of the President, the Federal Reserve or Currency 
bill was passed. It was intended to remedy three main defects 
in the currency and banking system: (i) Bank reserves, that is 
to say, the money reserved to meet ordinary demands upon a 
bank, were not under general direction or could not be mobilized 
in time of real need; each bank shifted largely for itself and 
sometimes was unable to make use of its own real resources. 
The new act proposed to remedy this trouble by providing for a 
small number of federal reserve banks, each in a distinct region, 
to hold large portions of the reserves of the individual banks. (2) 
The old currency system was inelastic; that is, there was no ade- 
quate means of increasing or regulating the amount of money in 
circulation to meet unusual demands; there was no adequate 
means of adjusting the amount of money to the legitimate needs 
of business. Under the old system it often happened that a 

' See ante p. 504. It must be remembered that the advisability of taxing 
incomes had long been under discussion. The adoption of the Sixteenth 
Amendment made it possible to tax incomes without distribution according 
to population. See ante p. 508, 533-534. 



DEMOCRATIC ASCENDANCY 557 

merchant with property and perfectly good credit could not, 
especially in a panic, get money from the banks, and, indeed, 
the banks themselves could not get the money to meet real 
demands, though they had in their vaults plenty of good '' paper," 
1. e. plenty of good securities, evidences of real wealth, which 
were, however, not money for circulation. Under the Federal 
Reserve Act, federal reserve notes may be issued on the basis 
of high-grade commercial paper; and thus, it is expected, the 
amount of currency will correspond to the actual needs of busi- 
ness. A bank may call on the Federal Reserve bank for notes — 
money — offering the "paper" it holds ^ in exchange for the 
Federal Reserve notes. (3) Under the older system, the govern- 
ment money was deposited either in the various subtreasuries 
or in national banks, the distribution being largely in the 
power of the Secretary of the Treasury. There were various 
undesirable features in this arrangement. The new law provides 

1 Any bank, a member of the Federal Reserve system, (for the individual 
banks are "members") can, in case of need, as explained above, take its 
securities of high grade to the regional Reserve bank and get notes. Thus 
its funds are not tied up in securities of one kind or another when what the 
communitj' needs is ready money. It must be remembered that a very large 
portion of the business of the land is carried on without money, but with 
checks and on the basis of credit; but times come when men want money, 
especially in time of panic when credit is shaken. Those have been just the 
times when banks have feared to give out freely their reserve cash and when 
it was almost impossible to dispose of the bonds, notes from individuals and 
other sorts of paper which constituted the real resources of the bank. A 
bank cannot, of course, keep in its vaults enough ready cash to pay every 
depositor on demand if all apply at once. Much of its money is loaned to 
borrowers; it has got to lend the money deposited with it, for that is the way 
it makes money. For the money loaned by a bank, it receives "paper," 
promises to pay; these promises — notes from individuals and other kinds of 
securities — are probably perfectly good, but in times of stress when there is 
doubt about financial conditions and credit, the bank may not be able to 
get money for the paper in order to pay its depositors. Neither, under the 
old system, could it accommodate a new borrower in urgent need of money 
and with perfectly good security to offer, because it needed its money and 
felt it must hold tight to its cash. The student will, I hope, understand from 
the text, that the new act was to provide a remedy for such difficulties. It 
is intended to furnish a means whereby the money to be used for business 
purposes will correspond in amount with real business needs. 



558 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION ■ 

for deposit of most of the government money in Federal Reserve 
banks. Portions of the reserve bank profits over a certain 
percentage are to go to the national government. The act 
provided for a Federal Reserve Board to have general supervi- 
sion of the system, and for regional banks, not more than twelve 
in number. In 1914, twelve districts were marked out, each 
to have a bank in a leading city.^ 

After signing the Federal Reserve measure. President Wilson 

spoke a few words to the Democratic leaders who were with him. 

Perhaps he intended to quiet the fears of those who 

Government thought that his administration would be hostile to 

and business. , ° ^ 

business interests. ''We have slowly been coming 
to this time which has now, happily, arrived when there is a 
common recognition of the things that it is undesirable should 
be done in business, and the things that it is desirable should be 
done. . . . Business men of all sorts are showing their willingness 
to come into this arrangement, which I venture to characterize 
as the constitution of peace. So that by common counsel, and 
by the accumulating force of cooperation, we are going to seek 
more and more to serve the country." 

The most difficult and trying problems which confronted 
President Wilson arose out of foreign affairs. Let us see the 

source and the nature of the President's power in 
President's managing diplomatic relations. Under our con- 

control of ... i i i • i 

foreign affairs, stitutioual System, he has these matters, m a large 
degree, in his own hands. With the advice and 
consent of the Senate, provided two-thirds of the Senators 
present consent, he makes treaties,^ the universal practice being 
that the finished treaty is turned over to the Senate for ratifica- 
tion or rejection. Almost complete power in handling ordinary 
diplomatic concerns is in the President's hands, and this is so 
largely because of the practical — and perhaps necessary — inter- 



1 The cities selected are Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, 
Richmond, Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Dallas, 
San Francisco. 

2 See Constitution, Art. 11, Sec. 2, §2. 



DEMOCRATIC ASCENDANCY 559 

pretation of one brief sentence in the Constitution: "he shall 
receive ambassadors and other public ministers."^ In addition 
to this grant of authority, he is given, of course, the right to ap- 
point ministers, subject to the approval by the Senate of the per- 
son appointed. He can, thus, by sending a minister to a foreign 
country and by receiving a minister from that country, recognize 
the government of that country, a power of considerable im- 
portance when there has been a revolution or serious insurrection 
and there is, in consequence, a question as to whether a govern- 
ment is sufficiently established in fact to be accepted as the real 
government. He can also refuse to receive ministers represent- 
ing foreign countries and can dismiss them or demand their recall. 
All communications with foreign governments are under his 
control and subject to his direction, though the practice is 
unvaried that dispatches are signed by the Secretary of State.- 

Soon after his inauguration, President Wilson said: "One 
of the chief objects of my administration will be to cultivate the 

friendship and deserve the confidence of our sister 
Attitude Republics of Central and South America and to 

Latin America, promote in cvery proper and honorable way the 

interests which are common to people of the two 
continents. . . . Cooperation is possible only when supported 
at every turn by the orderly processes of just government, 
based on law and not upon arbitrary or irregular force. . . . The 
United States has nothing to seek in Central and South America 
except the lasting interests of the peoples of the two con- 
tinents. . . ." At a later time he declared: "The United 

1 See Constitution, Art. ii, Sec. 3. 

^ Of course ordinary routine matters of diplomacy are carried on in the 
office of the Secretary of State; and frequently the whole course of procedure 
is there determined. Even very important subjects are often really, as well 
as ostensibly, managed by the Secretary himself. Much depends upon the 
gravity of the subject, on the character and personal power of the Secretary, 
and on the amount of direction which the President is able to exercise or 
desires to exercise. The President commonly also keeps in communiation, 
when the situation is especially difficult or menacing, with the chairman of 
the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs. But when all is said, the President 
is responsible. 



560 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

States will never again seek an additional foot of territory by 
conquest." 

Guided, it would seem, by the spirit of these sentences, he 
refused to "recognize" the Huerta government in Mexico. 
Huerta had overthrown the Madero government 
and, it was commonly believed, owed his place and 
power to the most ruthless and violent methods. Mexico had 
been fcr some time in a state of disorder and distress; various 
factions strove for power; and, as the contests went on, ruin, 
utter and complete, seemed to threaten the distressed country. 
Some persons believed our President ought to have recognized 
Huerta at once; they asserted that by doing so further turmoil 
and disagreeable complications would have been avoided. There 
may still be differences of opinion as to the wisdom of the Presi- 
dent's course; in truth, the whole problem is filled with per- 
plexity. There can be no doubt, however, that our Govern- 
ment was actuated by a desire to frown upon the kind of gov- 
ernment that Huerta represented and upon the methods he 
pursued in grasping power; and it was also moved by the belief 
that, only when there was an orderly government based on 
something besides brutality and the dagger, could our associa- 
tion with Mexico be cordial and helpful. 

Huerta failed in establishing his power, failed probably in 

part because the United States refused to recognize him and 

looked with favor on his opponent Carranza. The 

The Vera Cruz ^^j-j^qJj continued and threatened constantly to 

incident. ^ _ ^ •' ^ 

entangle us, even to bring on forcible intervention. 
April 9, 1 914, a boat's crew from one of our warships, the 
Dolphin, landing for supplies at Tampico, were arrested by a 
Mexican officer of the Huerta school; though they were released 
almost immediately, our Admiral considered the affront too 
serious to be passed over lightly. He demanded formal dis- 
avowal and apology and the salute of the American flag. When 
this demand was not complied with, trouble followed; for the 
President believing, we may imagine, that it was unwise to 
appear weak or vacillating in dealing with Huerta, supported the 
Admiral. More warships were sent to Mexican waters, and, as 



DEMOCRATIC ASCENDANCY 561 

the Mexican authorities continued to haggle and not to comply, 
our forces after a brief struggle seized the port and city of Vera 
Cruz.'^ 

The story from now on is, if anything, more confusing than 

before; it is a tale of violence and lawlessness and fighting factions 

in Mexico, of protests and warnings and patient 

Continuous admonitions from Washington, of annoyance ap- 

confusion i • i ... , 

in Mexico. proachmg dangerous irritation among our people, 
who continued, however, to hope that all would 
come out well or at least that we should not be drawn or driven 
into war. In July, 1914, Huerta gave up hope of establishing his 
authority and soon departed for Europe, leaving Mexico and 
the scenes of her disorder behind him. In November, 1914, our 
troops were withdrawn from Vera Cruz. 

Huerta's abdication did not, however, mean that all questions 
were set at rest; for Carranza who appeared to have the best 
chance of securing a strong hold on the government and becom- 
ing real master of the situation was beset with warring factions. 

In the course of these tiresome and trying discussions, at 
least one thing of great importance was done; our Government 

^ It is quite impossible in a few words to tell the story of our difficulties 
with Mexico. Of course the whole trouble was not due to anything we did or 
did not do, nor was it due to the flag incident in Tampico harbor. Possibly 
the resolution offered by Senator Lodge in the Senate (1914) fairly well 
represents the situation: "That the state of unrestrained violence and 
anarchy which exists in Mexico, the numerous unchecked and unpunished 
murders of American citizens, and the spoliation of their property in that 
country, the impossibility of securing protection or redress by diplomatic 
methods in the absence of lawful or effective authority, the inability of 
Mexico to discharge its international obligations, the unprovoked insults 
and indignities iijflicted upon the flag and the uniform of the United States 
by the armed forces in occupation of large parts of Mexican territory, have 
become intolerable. That the self-respect and dignity of the United States 
and the duty to protect its citizens and its international rights require that 
such a course be followed in Mexico by our government as to compel respect 
and observance of its rights." 

Intolerable? Yes, perhaps; but we continued to tolerate it. What else 
was to be done? Physical punishment is frequently the easiest and the least 
remunerative form of discipline. Can you make a naughty and ignorant 
boy good and intelligent and neighborly and gentle by whipping him? 
37 



562 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

decided to share the responsibility with the countries of South 

America. First the governments of Argentma, Brazil and Chile 

tendered their good ofhces to the United States 

South American ^^^^ Mexico.^ Though the good offices of these 

representatives , ,. rj-jj j 

confer. powcrs wcrc accepted, nothmg of decided advan- 

tage appeared to come from this friendly mediation, 
except — and that is a good deal — increased good will and friend- 
ship w4th the leading South American states. Again in 191 5 the 
United States asked and obtained the cooperation of these 
three powers and of three others.^ Conferences were held; 
messages were sent to Mexico; patience was indulged in, and 
finally the decision was reached that " the de facto government of 
Mexico of which General Carranza is the chief executive" should 
be recognized. Soon after this announcement, we established 
diplomatic relations with Mexico, receiving an ambassador 
sent by the Carranza government* (December, 1915) and sending 
our ambassador in return. 

Was this all? Not all by any means! Could Carranza 
really maintain peace and good order, and a capable government? 
That was the question. There was Villa, a vigorous, 
The elusive determined, skillful brigand who had been fighting 
s^me'^vma!' ^s Carranza's Supporter and then turned against him. 
No one in this country knew what Villa wanted; but 
he probably wanted to make trouble and he certainly knew how. 
In the early months of 1916 he and his men menaced the American 
border, and in March attacked the town of Columbus, New 
Mexico. They were driven back, but this last dastardly stroke 
was too much for any nation to bear calmly; American forces 
were ordered into Mexico to punish Villa. American troops 
penetrated several hundred miles into Mexican territory and 
were victorious in skirmishes of no mean proportions, but the 

1 In April, 1914, at the time of the Vera Cruz episode. 

- The additional three were Bolivia, Uruguay, and Guatemala. 

3 President Wilson's message to Congress, December, 1915. "Whether 
we have benefited Mexico by the course we have pursued remains to be 
seen. . . . The moral is, that the states of America are not hostile rivals 
but cooperating friends. . . . This is Pan-Americanism. It has none of 
the spirit of the empire in it. It is the embodiment, the effectual embodiment, 
of the spirit of law and independence and liberty and mutual service." 



DEMOCRATIC ASCENDANCY 563 

wily outlaw himself avoided capture, and the game of hide and 
seek seemed nearly profitless. 

In June, Carranza, whom we had previously aided and 

favored, demanded that our troops be withdrawn from Mexican 

territory and that we give up the hunt for the 

War seems bandits and outlaws who endangered our border 

mevitable. ° 

towns and ranches. This step President Wilson 
refused to take, asserting that, until the Mexican government 
showed ability and willingness to keep order, we must keep our 
troops on Mexican soil. As these lines are written, the National 
Guard has been called to arms, and the war which the President 
has so long sought to avoid appears to be almost inevitable. 

With the outbreak of the great world war in 19 14, America 

stood forth the only First Class Power in the world, bent upon 

living the life and maintaining the rights of a 

outbreakofthe neutral. When we speak of "First Class Power," 

World's War. ,, V i • i /- i • 

we mean, naturally, belonging to the first class m 
population, influence, and strength.^ At first the people of this 
country were amazed, dazed and doubtful. Having lived for 
years in a world apart from the great rivalries and suspicions of 
Europe, having known of vast armies and forced military 
service and heavy armament only from the newspapers, not 
from experience, having acquired no knowledge of the field of 
"world politics" or having looked upon it as an amusing game 
without danger to the player, having been accustomed to think 
of other nations in a friendly way, though sometimes with a 
feeling that our own nation is just a little better and wiser than 
others — the American people from this state of mind awoke 

1 On one side were Germany and Austria-Hungary, afterwards joined 
by Turkey and Bulgaria. On the other, France, Russia, England, Italy, 
Servia, Montenegro, Belgium, Japan, and, later, Portugal. Battles were 
waged in Eastern Asia, in Mesopotamia, in South and East Africa, and in 
Turkey, while conflicts, for which there is no adjective expressing their 
terrible enormity and suffering, were fought between the millions of soldiers 
on the great battlefields of Europe. If the student will turn back to the 
perplexities and trials of America during the great world war of a little over 
a century ago, a war which ended with America one of the combatants, he 
will see many similarities to the conditions and problems which began for us 
in 1914. 



564 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

to see the world in flames; no wonder they were amazed, and 
awaking seemed to be in a dream of unrealities. 

It is still too early to write of even the trials that beset us as a 
neutral state, of efforts to prevent encroachments on what we 
conceived to be settled and sacred rights under international 
law, and of efforts to persuade the warring nations that, because 
they fought, there was no reason for acting as if we did not exist. 
It is still too early to speak of the diflSculty arising from con- 
flicting sympathies between elements of our own population. 
The thing which we can see with definite assurance is that 
America must look calmly and wisely and thoughtfully upon its 
own duties and its own ideals, must seek to preserve them as far 
as they can stand the test for righteousness, and must try to 
build up a sense of high civic responsibility without developing 
hatred for other nations.^ 

^ If this great war does not make young and old think and think hard, 
nothing short of complete world conflagration could do so. Is war, modern 
war, machine-made war, war with all its unspeakable horrors, the only basis 
of permanent settlement of dififerences between nations? Is science to bestow 
its labors on the making of machines for the destruction of life? Are nations 
to be reared in feelings of hostility to other nations? Must a nation rule 
wide dominions and extend its political authority if it would be great? Or 
does the widest and deepest influence come from the spirit, from literature, 
art, music, peaceful science, and from character as in relationships between 
individual men? Are people by studying national history to be led to be- 
lieve that they and they only are the chosen and the elect? Has the study of 
American history helped improperly to develop the sense of exclusive and 
superior nationalism, that sense which now appears in Europe to be a menace 
to friendliness and appreciation among nations? Does America realize that 
with its immense power it has duties as well as opportunities? Do we believe 
that the highest welfare of our own nation is joined with and perhaps strictly 
dependent upon, the highest welfare of other nations? Can miUtant 
nationalism and aggression be reconciled with democracy, with the belief 
in the right of man to eat the bread his labor has produced and to think his 
own thoughts? Amid the tempests of international rivalries can free popular 
government flourish, giving opportunity, protecting liberty, encouraging 
individual effort and self-reliance, making for highest intellectual, social 
and physical strength among the masses of men? Must matters of social 
betterment be subordinated to needs of war and preparation of war? Is 
civilization to move on and up or is it to be set backward and downward by 
brute force? Is life to be lived and to be made more full of living? These and 
other questions arise, and men and women are pondering them. 



I 



CHAPTER XXIX 
CONCLUSION 



In the hundred years and more since the Constitution was 
adopted the nation has grown with astonishing rapidity; the 
fundamental law drawn up by the men of 1787 for 
century! " * ^ little group of States on the margin of a con- 
tinent is now the law of forty-eight States that 
stretch from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In all that we study 
concerning the history of the country we must remember that 
the nation was always in movement, hourly waxing stronger, 
reaching out year by year for more territory, and developing 
its industrial life and strength. We must remember that 
since 1787 greater changes have come over the world, in all that 
affects the industry of men, than up to that time had taken 
place since the beginning of the Christian era. The law that 
was framed by the fathers in the Philadelphia Convention was 
framed for a people who sowed their wheat, threshed it, and 
shipped it to market by the same tedious methods and with the 
same crude implements that the world knew in the time of 
Solon. In the course of the last hundred years new machinery 
has been invented, and with its help man has multiplied his 
power. Steam and electricity have been harnessed to do his 
bidding, and the whole industrial life of the people has been 
altered. Society has become complex; new and serious prob- 
lems have arisen. Everywhere there has been movement and 
change, and political institutions have had to adapt themselves 
to a people that has been constantly expanding. 

In 1790 the population of the United States was something 
less than 4,000,000, including slaves; in 1910 it was nearly 
92,000,000. When the new Government was established, the 
center of population was thirty miles east of Baltimore; it is 

565 



566 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



now almost as far west as Chicago. This is one of the 
astounding facts of history; and we may remember that, if 
America has not as yet produced poets or painters 
or sculptors or musicians of the first rank, the 
people have subdued a continent; and they 
have taken possession of it not as a nomadic horde, but have 
covered the plains and hillsides with cities and villages; they 



Extension of 
population. 




\_HARR1SBUR 



N S Y L V 



MAP SHOWING WESTWARD M0\ 

THE CENTER OF POPULATION 
1790-1910 



Parkersbin) ^^»Vr'^%\mopSLl»'>» ^ tP\ 'T 
// V I— -R G 1 N i\fS^^ 



Immigration. 



have taken with them, in their work of winning the wilderness, 
the courthouse, the schoolhouse, and the church. 

Until the outbreak of the Civil War the population of the 
United States doubled in each twenty-five years. Since that 
time the increase has been less rapid, and yet the 
number on the census rolls of 1900 was two and a 
half times that reported in i860. This rapid increase is due in 
large measure, of course, to the immigration of persons who 
have come to America to better their condition. Not until 
1820 was there any exact record kept of how many persons were 
coming to the United States; the number was at first very small, 
and did not reach one hundred thousand until 1842. Shortly 
before the Civil War over four hundred thousand came in a 
single year. In 1882 the number of immigrants was over three 
fourths of a million; in 1903 over 850,00c entered the country, 
and in 19 10 over 1,000,000 — thus adding in a single year a popu- 
lation three times as large as that of the city of Washington or of 
New Orleans. Probably at the present time not more than one 
half of the inhabitants of this country are descended from 



CONCLUSION 567 

persons that lived in the United States one hundred years ago. 
When we stop to consider this fact, we wonder that the nation 
has developed symmetrically and peaceably, and that these 
people of different races, with social customs and ideas differing 
from our own, ignorant of our political and social system, have 
been absorbed into the nation and been so speedily transformed 
into American citizens in sympathy with American ideals. 
Doubtless this ceaseless immigration has had its dangers and 
still presents its difficulties; but if all foreign elements can be 
assimilated into our life, the composite nation that results is 
not likely to be feeble or lacking in force, but an energetic, 
delicately constituted, vigorous, and forcible race. 

The United States is no longer only an agricultural country, 
as it was a hundred and twenty years ago; its industries are 
-, , , many and varied; it has become one of the largest 

Manufactures. . . ° 

manufacturmg states of the world. In 1905 the 
capital employed in manufacturing amounted to almost $13,- 
000,000,000, the number of workmen was more than 6,152,000, 
and the total value of the product was $16,866,000,000. In 
the year ending June 30, 1910, manufactured goods to the 
value of $7,681,000,000 were exported. The output of steel 
alone was seven hundred and fifty times as great in 1900 as in 
1865, and in the next ten years the output doubled. In 1910 
there were over two hundred and thirty-six thousand miles of 
railroad. 

Nothing brings before us the great development of the 
country in the last few years more clearly and strikingly than 

the growth of the West. At the end of the Mexi- 
the^we°s^^^^ " ^^^ War, the country west of Iowa and Missouri 

was almost unpeopled. A few Mexicans were 
living within the limits of New Mexico and California. The 
Oregon country had something over ten thousand inhabitants, 
including white people and Indian half-breeds. The Mormons 
had just moved (1847) into the valley of the Great Salt Lake, 
and were beginning their wonderful work of transforming 
the bleak Western wilderness into a land of plenty. Even as 
late as the discussion over the Kansas-Nebraska question, the 



1860— $1,885,861,676 — Value of Manu- 

factured Products 

1870— 4,232,325,442 in the United 

States, 1860-1910. 

1880— 5,369,579,191 

1890— 9,372,437,283 ■ 

1900—11,411,121,122 

1905—14,802,147,087 

1910—20,672,052,000 • 



Year. Tons. 

1865— 831,770- The Production 

1870- 1,665,179 United States, 1865- 



1880— 3,835,191- 

1890— 9,202,703- 

1900— 13,789,242- 

■1910- 27,298,545- 



1910. 



1790— $20,205,756- 

1800— 70,971,780— Total Value of Exports 

1810 — 66,757,970— of Merchandise from the 

1820— 69,691,669— United States, 1790-1910. 

1830— 71,670,735— 

1840— 123,668,932 

1850— 144,375,726 

1860— 333,576,057 

1870— 392,771,768 

1880— 835,638,658 

1890— 857,828,684 

1900— 1,394,483,082 

1905— 1,518,561,666^ — ^ 

1910— 1,744,984,720^ 



CONCLUSION 5G9 

Western prairies were thought by many to be a great desert, 
scarcely fit for the comfortable habitations of men.^ The plains 
of the western states, almost unoccupied fifty years ago, save 
by the buffalo and the coyote, are now vast fields of com and 
wheat, and the rocky fastnesses of the mountain ranges are 
yielding marvelous mineral treasures. But one would have but 
a faint idea of this remarkable progress if he stopped with a 
study of industries and population. The schools, the univer- 
sities, the libraries, the churches, are witnesses to the fact that 
the graces and refinements of civilization have not been neg- 
lected. As the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay provided 
for town schools and a college "while the tree stumps were 
as yet scarcely weather-brown in their earliest harvest fields", 
so in the new regions of the West the school and the university 
have been the foremost care of the people. 

The words of Webster can not be too often repeated: 
^'On the diffusion of education among the people rest the 
preservation and perpetuation of our free insti- 
tutions". In 1870-1871 there were about seven 
and a half million pupils in our public schools; now there are 
seventeen millions.^ Moreover, the endowments of colleges 
and universities have been greatly increased; many millions 
have been given by the States and by private individuals for 
the advancement of higher education; new universities have 
been founded, and the number of college students has mul- 
tiplied. Nowhere else in the world is there such general in- 



^The first settlement in the Dakotas, Sioux Falls, was not made till 1857. 
In Wyoming, it is true, a fur-trading post was established as early as 1834, 
but there was no need of organizing a separate Territorial government for 
this region until 1868. By the census of 1910 the Western States and Ter- 
ritories, from the line of Missouri and Iowa to the Pacific, contained 
16,400,000 people. The coming of New Mexico and Arizona into the 
Union marks the end of the old territories. 

^ In 1906-1907 there were in the public schools 475,238 teachers, more 
than twice as many as in 1869-1870. For the support of the pubhc schools 
$343,602,738 were received for expenditure, a sum over twice as large as 
that received even seventeen years before. In this year, 1907-1908, $30.55 
were spent for each pupil; in 1879-1880 only $12.71. 



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CONCLUSION 571 

terest in education. And that is well; for it is wise always to 
remember that all our marvelous growth, all the magnificent 
additions to material wealth, all the stupendous increase in 
population and power, have added to the duties of the nation; 
poverty has noi disappeared nor has ignorance vanished from 
the land; public prolDlems of vast importance face the coming 
generations. The only sound basis of free government is the in- 
telligent and active interest of right-minded citizens. 

While discussing the events of Jackson's administration 

we stopped to consider the literature of the time, and to notice 

that a number of great writers had appeared 

Literature. , , ° . tx i. 

whose work gave American literature a new 
dignity and worth. Many of these persons lived until after 
the Civil War. Longfellow and Emerson did not die until 1882. 
Whittier, Lowell, and Holmes lived into the last decade of the 
nineteenth century, the last survivors of that great coterie of 
New England writers whose noble work in prose and verse 
gave a new charm to American literature and added a ne\? 
interest and value to American life. Bancroft died in 1891, 
leaving his history as a great monument of forty years of toil. 

American authors have been especially successful in the 
writing of history. John Lothrop Motley by his volumes 

on the history of the Netherlands won a place by 
J[gt*"^°* the side of Prescott and Bancroft, while above 

them stands Francis Parkman, possessed of the 
accuracy and the unerring skill of the scientific historian, and 
of imaginative insight, power of sympathetic interpretation, 
and the ability to clothe his thoughts in peculiarly appropriate 
and charming language. There are many other writers, some 
of them living to-day, who are scholars of distinction. 

It would be quite beyond the scope and purpose of this 
book to mention the names and work of all the men who in 

recent years have written, in prose or verse, 
Literature and ^^j^ g ^-^^^ ^^^ entitled to rank as contribu- 

science. . 

tions to literature; but we should notice that in 
this respect, as in others, the American people have shown 
strength and development. While the nation has grown and 



572 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

prospered, its imagination has not lain dormant nor been con- 
sumed in the processes of mechanical invention or the prosecu- 
tion of business enterprises. The last decade has given further 
proof of artistic interest and talent. Moreover in all branches 
of science — in chemistry, physics, biology, and, perhaps, in 
astronomy most of all, American scholars have been widening 
the boundaries of human knowledge. In fact, the student of 
American life has no reason to be discouraged; the nation has 
shown its capacity to appreciate the good and the beautiful; 
its power of production in science and in the realm of imagina- 
tion has been made plain. 

In painting, sculpture, and architecture America has done 
as yet but little. In the Revolutionary days there were a few 
painters of considerable skill. Peale, Trumbull, 
and Stuart possessed real talent, and they left 
many portraits of historical characters that are highly prized. 
But in the course of nearly a hundred years there seemed to 
be little progress; no indication was visible of a development 
of artistic spirit among the people or of growth of artistic power. 
In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, however, there 
came signs of an awakening ; a group of young artists appeared 
who possessed undoubted genius; those that had been looking 
for a new birth of American art felt that the day had come. 
As the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876 quickened 
the artistic spirit in America, the World's Fair in Chicago in 
1893 surprised every one by its proof of wondrous achievement. 
The architecture of the Fair showed that American architects 
were artists. The onlooker was forced to the conclusion that 
the American people, who in the course of a few decades had 
swept across a continent and turned the wide prairies into plow- 
land, were possessed of more than mere mechanical skill and 
physical strength. Here was evidence of a greater capacity, 
a power to appreciate beauty, ability to minister to the aesthetic 
wants of men. Again in 1904, the beauty, extent, and magnifi- 
cence of the Exposition at St. Louis, held to celebrate the ac- 
quisition of a land which one hundred years ago was almost 
an untrodden wilderness, was not only an impressive proof of 



CONCLUSION 573 

the wonderful growth of the people but also an encouraging and 
inspiring indication of their development in artistic power. 

One hundred years ago the United States was an experiment. 
Students of history who knew the fate of republics in the past 
hardly dared to hope that this one could live. The statesmen 
of Europe took little interest in what was done on this side 
of the ocean, and did not believe that a free and popular govern- 
ment could long survive over a numerous people and a wide 
area. Considering democracy as little better than anarchy, they 
sneered at the idea that the masses of the people were capable 
of self-government. So far our country has weathered .the 
storm, and we still have hopes that democratic ideals will be 
reached. Politically the nation stands for the principle that 
the people are the safest custodians of power, that they can 
be trusted to do right, and that all are the best judges of what 
is best for all. The experience of a century has given us con- 
fidence; the people in many crises have shown a spirit of in- 
tegrity and a capacity for self-control. But if the future is to 
substantiate this principle, it will be because men and women 
are intelligent, virtuous, and honest. No one that looks about 
him can fail to see that the nation is surrounded with perils; 
for as the years go by society becomes more complex, its prob- 
lems become more difficult, and the tasks of government in- 
crease; and if our country is to prove the truth of the demo- 
cratic principle for the future, it will be because the essentials 
of virtue and patriotism are cherished; it will be because the 
men and women of the land are courageous, honest, generous, 
and strong, and because they are ready to strive for the main- 
tenance of the free institutions that the fathers of the Republic 
bequeathed to them.^ It rests in large measure with the boys 

^"If we fail, the cause of free self-government throughout the world 
will rock to its foundations; and therefore our responsibility is heavy, 
to ourselves, to the world as it is to-day, and to the generations yet unborn. 
There is no good reason why we should fear the future, but there is every 
reason why we should face it seriously, neither hiding from ourselves the 
gravity of the problems before us nor fearing to approach these problems 
with the unbending, unflinching purpose to solve them aright". — The 
inaugural address of President Roosevelt, March 4, 1905. 



CONCLUSION 575 

and girls who are now at their lessons in the schools and acad- 
emies of the land to determine whether or not amid the perils 
of the near future the principles of popular government will 
justify themselves. 



The inaugural address of President Wilson, like that of Mr. Roosevelt of 
eight years before, was a call to civic righteousness and duty: "The great 
government we loved has too often been made use of for private and selfish 
purposes, and those who used it had forgotten the people. At last a vision 
has been vouchsafed us of our life as a whole. We see the bad with the good, 
the debased and decadent with the sound and vital. With this vision we 
approach new affairs. Our duty is to cleanse, to reconsider, to restore, to 
correct the evil without impairing the good, to purify and humanize every 
process of our common life without weakening or sentimentalizing it. 
There has been something crude and heartless and unfeeling in our haste 
to succeed and be great. . . . We have come now to a sober second 
thought. The scales of heedlessness have fallen from our eyes. We have 
made up our minds to square every process of our national life again with 
the standards we so proudly set up at the beginning and have always 
carried in our hearts". 



APPENDIX 



38 



APPENDIX 






I I I I I y I . . 




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George Washington. 
John z\dams. 
John Jay. 

Rich'd H. Harrison. 
John Rutledge. 
John Hancock. 
Scattering. 
Vacancies. 
George Washington. 
John Adams. 
George Clinton. 
Thomas Jefferson. 
Aaron Burr. 
Vacancies. 
John Adams. 
Thomas Jefferson. 
Thomas Pinckney. 
Aaron Burr. 
Scattering. 
Thomas Jefferson. 
Aaron Burr. 
John Adams. 
Chas. C. Pinckney. 
John Jay. 




"o 




Federalist. 
Federahst. 
Republican. 
Republican. 

Federalist. 
Republican. 
Federalist. 
Republican. 

Republican. 
Republican. 
Federalist. 
Federalist. 


1 


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George Clinton. 
Rufus King. 
George Clinton. 
Rufus King. 
John Langdon. 
James Madison. 
James Monroe. 


bCi— 1 


Daniel Tompkins. 
John E. Howard. 
James Ross. 
John Marshall. 
Robert G. Harper. 


Daniel Tompkins. 
Richard Stockton. 
Daniel Rodney. 
Robert G. Harper. 
Richard Rush. 


J. C. Calhoun. 
Nathaniel Sanford. 
Nathaniel Macon. 
Andrew Jackson. 
Martin Van Buren. 
Henry Clay. 


J. C. Calhoun. 
Richard Rush. 
William Smith. 


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APPENDIX 



IX 



1-1 (M iCOO® • . • 








Theo. Roosevelt. 
A. E. Stevenson. 
H. B. Metcalf. 
Job Harriman. 
V. Remmel. 
C. W. Fairbanks. 
H. G. Davis. 
Benjamin Hanford. 
G. W. Carroll. 
W. W. Cox. 
T. H. Tibbes. 
James S. Sherman. 
John W. Kern. 
Benjamin Hanford. 
Aaron S. Watkins. 
Donald L. Munro. 
Samuel Williams. 
John Temple Graves. 
Thomas R. Marshall. 
Hiram Johnson. 
James S. Sherman. ^ 
Emil Seidel. 
Aaron S. Watkins. 
August Gillhaui-.. 


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W. J. Bryan. 
J. G. Woolley. 
E. V. Debs. 
J. F. Malloney. 
Theodore Roosevelt. 
Alton B. Parker. 
Eugene V. Debs. 
S. C. Swallow. 


L. H. Corregan. 
T. E. Watson. 
WiUiam H. Taft. 
William J. Bryan. 
Eugene V. Debs. 
Eugene W. Chafin. 
August Gillhaus. 
Thomas E. Watson. 
Thomas L. Hisgen. 
Woodrow Wilson. 
Theodore Roosevelt. 
William H. Taft. 
Eugene V. Debs. 
Eugene W. Chafin. 
Arthur E. Reimer. 


Republican. 
Democratic. 
Prohibition. 
Social Democratic. 
Socialist Labor. 
Republican. 
Democratic. 
Social Democratic. 


d 
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2 

o 


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Republican. 

Democratic. 

Social Democratic. 

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Social Labor. 

Populist. 

Independence. 

Democratic. 

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Socialist. 

Prohibition. 

Socialist Labor. 






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PL, 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



Summary of the States and Territories 



I 



States and Territories 



Settlement 



By whom When 



Date of Act 
Creating 



Territory 



State 



Alabama 

Alaska 

Arizona 

Arkansas 

California 

Colorado 

Connecticut 

Delaware 

District of Columbia 

Florida 

Georgia 

Hawaii 

Idaho 

Illinois 

Indiana 

Iowa 

Kansas 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

Maine 

Maryland 

Massachusetts 

Michigan 

Minnesota 

Mississippi 

Missouri 

Montana 

Nebraska 

Nevada 

New Hampshire . . . . 

New Jersey 

New Mexico 

New York 

North Carolina 

North Dakota 

Ohio 

Oklahoma 

Oregon 

Pennsylvania 

Philippines 

Porto Rico 



French. 

Russians. 

Spanish. 

French. 

Spanish. 

Americans. 

English. 

Swedes. 

Md. and Va. 

Spanish. 

English. 

Americans. 

Americans. 

French. 

French. 

Americans. 

Americans. 

Virginians. 

French. 

English. 

English. 

English. 

French. 

Americans. 

French. 

French. 

Americans. 

Americans. 

Americans. 

English. 

Swedes. 

Spanish. 

Dutch. 

English. 

Americans. 

Va. and N. Eng 

Americans. 

Americans. 

English. 

Spanish. 

Spanish. 



1713 
1805 
1598 
1670 
1769 
1832 
1633 
1627 



1565 
1733 
1820 
1834 
1749 
1730 
1833 
1850 
1775 
1699 
1630 
1634 
1620 
1668 
1827 
1716 
1763 
1841 
1810 
1849 
1623 
1627 
1598 
1613 
1650 
1860 
1788 
1890 
1811 
1682 
1565 
1510 



1817 
1884 
1863 
1819 



1819 



1861 
Original 
Original 
1791 
1822 
Original 
1900 
1863 
1809 
1800 
1838 
1854 



1805 



Original 

Original 

1805 

1849 

1798 

1812 

1864 

1854 

1861 

Original 

Original 

1850 

Original 

Original 

1861 



1912 
1836 
1850 

1876 
State. 
State. 



1845 
State. 



1890 

1848 

Original 



1890 
1818 
1816 
1846 
1861 
1792 
1812 
1820 

State. 

State. 
1837 
1858 
1817 
1821 
1889 
1867 
1864 

State. 

State. 
1912 

State. 

State. 
1889 
1803 
1907 
1859 

State. 



1904 Repj. Gov't. 
1900 ; 



APPENDIX 



XI 



Summary of the States and Territories — {Continued). 



States and Territories 



Rhode Island . . 
South Carohna. 
South Dakota. 

Tennessee 

Texas 

Utah 

Vermont 

Virginia 

Washington . . . 
West Virginia . . 

Wisconsin 

Wyoming 



Settlement 



By whom 



English. 

Enghsh. 

Americans. 

N. C. and Va. 

Spanish. 

Americans. 

English. 

English. 

Americans. 

English. 

French. 

Americans. 



When 



1636 
1670 
1857 
1765 
1630 
1847 
1763 
1607 
1811 
1607 
1750 
1834 



Date of Act 
Creating 



Territory State 



Original 

Original 

1861 



1850 



Original 
1853 



1836 
1868 



State. 

State. 
1889 
1796 
1845 
1896 
1791 

State. 
1889 
1863 
1848 
1890 



Cities of over loofioo Inhabitants; population in igio 



City 



New York ... 

Chicago 

Philadelphia . 
St. Louis .... 

Boston 

Cleveland . . . 
Baltimore. . . 
Pittsburgh. . . 

Detroit 

Buffalo 

San Francisco 
Cincinnati . . . 
Milwaukee . . . 

Newark 

New Orleans. 
Washington . . 
Los Angeles . . 
Minneapolis. . 
Jersey City. . 
Kansas City . , 

Seattle 

Indianapohs. , 
Providence. . , 
Louisville. ... 
Rochester. . . 



Population 



,766,883 
,185,283 
,549,008 
687,029 
670,585 
560,663 
558,485 
533,905 
465,766 
423,715 
416,912 
364,463 
353,857 
347,469 
339,075 
331,069 
319,198 
301,408 
267,779 
248,381 
237,194 
233,650 
224,326 
223,928 
218,149 



City 



St. Paul 

Denver 

Portland, Ore 

Columbus 

Toledo 

Atlanta 

Oakland 

Worcester, Mass. . . 

Syracuse 

New Haven 

Birmingham, Ala. . . 

IMemphis 

Scranton 

Richmond, Va 

Paterson 

Omaha 

Fall River 

Dayton, O 

Grand Rapids, Mich 

Nashville 

Lowell 

Cambridge, Mass. . . 

Spokane 

Bridgeport, Conn. . . 
Albany 



Population 



214,744 
213,381 
207,214 
181,584 
168,497 
154,839 
150,174 
145,986 
137,249 
133,605 
132,685 
131,105 
129,867 
127,628 
125,600 
124,096 
119,295 
116,577 
112,571 
110,364 
106,294 
104,839 
104,402 
102,054 
100,253 



xii HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

CONSTITUTION 

OF THE 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more 
perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, pro- 
vide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and 
secure the blessings of Uberty to ourselves and our posterity, do 
ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of 
America. 

ARTICLE I 

Sect. 1. All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in 
a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and 
a House of Representatives. 

Sect. 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of 
members chosen every second year by the people of the several 
States, and the electors in each State shall have the qualifications 
requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State 
Legislature. 

No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained 
to the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of 
the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhab- 
itant of that State in which he shall be chosen. 

Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the 
several States which may be included within this Union, according 
to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding 
to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to serv- 
ice for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths 
of all other persons. The actual enumeration shall be made within 
three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United 
States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such man- 
ner as they shall by law direct. The number of Representatives 
shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each State shall 
have at least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall 
be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to choose 
three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Planta- 



APPENDIX xiii 

tions one, Connecticut five, New York six, New Jersey four, Penn- 
sylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North 
Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three. 

When vacancies happen in the representation from any State, 
the Executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill 
such vacancies. 

The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and 
other officers; and shall have the sole power of impeachment. 

Sect. 3. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of 
two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, 
for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. 

Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the 
first election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three 
classes. The seats of the Senators of the first class shall be vacated 
at the expiration of the second year, of the second class at the ex- 
piration of the fourth year, and of the third class at the expiration of 
the sixth year, so that one-third may be chosen every second year; 
and if vacancies happen by resignation, or otherwise, during the 
recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may 
make temporary appointments until the next meeting of the Legis- 
lature, which shall then fill such vacancies. 

No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the 
age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United 
States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that 
State for which he shall be chosen. 

The Vice-President of the United States shall be President of 
the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided. 

The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a President 
pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice-President, or when he shall 
exercise the office of President of the United States. 

The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. 
When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. 
When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice 
shall preside: and no person shall be convicted without the concur- 
rence of two-thirds of the members present. 

Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than 
to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any 
office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States: but the 
party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indict- 
ment, trial, judgment, and punishment, according to law. 



xiv HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

Sect. 4. The times, places, and manner of holding elections for 
Senators and Representatives shall be prescribed in each State by 
the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law 
make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing 
Senators. 

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such 
meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall 
by law appoint a different day. 

Sect. 5. Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns, 
and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall 
constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may ad- 
journ from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attend- 
ance of absent members, in such manner, and under such penalties, 
as each House may provide. 

Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish 
its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of 
two-thirds, expel a member. 

Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from 
time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their 
judgment require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of 
either House on any question shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those 
present, be entered on the journal. 

Neither House, during the session of Congress, shall, without 
the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to 
any other place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting. 

Sect. 6. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a com- 
pensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out 
of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all cases, ex- 
cept treason, felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged from 
arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective 
Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any 
Speech or debate in either House they shall not be questioned in any 
other place. 

No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which 
he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority 
of the United States, which shall have been created, or the emolu- 
ments whereof shall have been increased, during such time; and no 
person holding any ofi&ce under the United States shall be a member 
of either House during his continuance in ofhce. 

Sect. 7. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House 



APPENDIX XV 

of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with 
amendments as on other bills. 

Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives 
and the Senate shall, before it become a law, be presented to the 
President of the United States; if he approve he shall sign it, but 
if not he shall return it with his objections to that House in which 
it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on 
their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such recon- 
sideration two-thirds of that House shall agree to pass the bill, it 
shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other House, by 
which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and, if approved by two- 
thirds of that House, it shall become a law. But in all siich cases 
the votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and 
the names of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be en- 
tered on the journal of each House respectively. If any bill shall 
not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) 
after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, 
in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their 
adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law. 

Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of the 
Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on 
a question of adjournment) shall be presented to the President of 
the United States; and, before the same shall take effect, shall be 
approved by him, or, being disapproved by him, shall be repassed 
by two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, accord- 
ing to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill. 

Sect. S. The Congress shall have power,— 

To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises to pay the 
debts and provide for the common defence and general welfare of 
the United States; but all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uni- 
form throughout the United States; 

To borrow money on the credit of the United States; 

To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the sev- 
eral States, and with the Indian tribes; 

To establish an uniform rule of naturahzation, and uniform laws 
on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States; 

To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, 
and fix the standard of weights and measures; 

To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities 
and current coin of the United States; 



xvi HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

To establish post-offices and post-roads; 

To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing 
for limited times to authors and inventors the esclusive right to their 
respective writings and discoveries; 

To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court; 

To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high 
seas, and offences against the law of nations; 

To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make 
rules concerning captures on land and water; 

To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to 
that use shall be for a longer term than two years; 

To provide and maintain a navy; 

To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and 
naval forces; 

To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the 
Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions; 

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, 
and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the 
service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the 
appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia 
according to the discipline prescribed by Congress; 

To exercise exclusive legislation, in all cases whatsoever, over 
such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of 
particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat 
of the government of the United States; and to exercise like author- 
ity over all places purchased by the consent of the Legislature of the 
State in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, 
arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful buildings; — and 

To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying 
into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by 
this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any 
department or officer thereof. 

Sect. 9. The migration or importation of such persons as any 
of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be 
prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight 
hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such im- 
portation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person. 

The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, 
unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may 
require it. 



APPENDIX xvii 

No bill of attainder or ex post fad o law shall be passed. 

No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in propor- 
tion to the census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken. 

No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State. 

No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or 
revenue to the ports of one State over those of another; nor shall 
vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obUged to enter, clear, or 
pay duties in another. 

No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence 
of appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and account 
of the receipts and expenditures of aU pubUc money shaU be pub- 
lished from time to time. 

No title of nobiUty shall be granted by the United States; and 
no person holding any office of profit or trust under them shall, 
without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolu- 
ment, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, 
or foreign state. 

Sect. 10. No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or con- 
federation: grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit 
biUs of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in 
payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or 
law impairing the obhgation of contracts, or grant any title of 
nobihty. 

No State shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any im- 
posts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely 
necessary for executing its inspection laws; and the net produce of 
all duties and imposts, laid by any State on imports or exports shall 
be for the use of the treasury of the United States; and all such laws 
shall be subject to the revision and control of the Congress. 

No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of 
tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any 
agreement or compact with another State, or with a foreign power, 
or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent dan- 
ger as wiU not admit of delaj/'. 

ARTICLE II 

Sect. 1. The executive power shall be vested in a President of 
the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the 
term of four years, and, together with the Vice-President, chosen 
for the same term, be elected as follows: — 
89 



xviii HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature 
thereof may direct, a number of Electors equal to the whole number 
of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled 
in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or person hold- 
ing an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be 
appointed an Elector. 

[The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by 
ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabi- 
tant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a list 
of all the persons voted for, and of the number of votes for each; 
which list they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the 
seat of the government of the United States, directed to the Presi- 
dent of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the pres- 
ence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the 
certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person 
having the greatest number of votes shall be the President, if such 
number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; 
and if there be more than one who have such majority, and have an 
equal number of votes, then the House of Representatives shall 
immediately choose by ballot one of them for President; and if no 
person have a majority, then from the five highest on the list the 
said House shall in like manner choose the President. But in 
choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by States, the 
representation from each State having one vote; a quorum for this 
purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of 
the States, and a majority of all the States shall be necessary to a 
choice. In every case, after the choice of the President, the person 
having the greatest number of votes of the Electors shall be the 
Vice-President. But if there should remain two or more who have 
equal votes, the Senate shall choose from them by ballot the Vice- 
President. — Repealed by Amendment XII.] 

Congress may determine the time of choosing the Electors, and 
the day on which they shall give their votes; which day shall be 
the same throughout the United States. 

No person except a natural-born citizen, or a citizen of the 
United States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall 
be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be 
eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of 
thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the 
United States. 



APPENDIX xix 

In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his 
death, resignation, or inabihty to discharge the powers and duties 
of the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-President, and 
the Congress may by law provide for the case of removal, death, 
resignation, or inability, both of the President and Vice-President, 
declaring what officer shall then act as President, and such officer 
shall act accordingly, until the disabihty be removed, or a President 
shall be elected. 

The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services a 
compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished 
during the period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall 
not receive within that period any other emolument from the United 
States, or any of them. 

Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the 
following oath or affirmation: — "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) 
that I wiU faithfully execute the office of President of the United 
States, and will to the best of my abihty, preserve, protect, and 
defend the Constitution of the United States." 

Sect. 2. The President shall be commander-in-chief of the 
army and navy of the United States, and of the militia of the 
several States, when called into the actual service of the United 
States; he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal 
officer in each of the executive departments, upon any subject re- 
lating to the duties of their respective offices, and he shall have 
power to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the 
United States, except in cases of impeachment. 

He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the 
Senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present 
concur; and he shall nominate, and, by and with the advice and 
consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public min- 
isters, and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other 
officers of the United States, whose appointments are not herein 
otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law; but 
the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior 
officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the courts 
of law, or in the heads of departments. 

The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may 
happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions 
which shall expire at the end of their next session. 

Sect. 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress infor- 



XX HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

mation of the state of the Union, and recommend to their considera- 
tion such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he 
may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of 
them, and in case of disagreement between them, with respect to 
the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he 
shall think proper; he shall receive ambassadors and other public 
ministers; he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, 
and shall commission all the officers of the United States. 

Sect. 4. The President, Vice-President, and all civil officers of 
the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, 
and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misde- 
meanors. 

ARTICLE III 

Sect. 1. The judicial power of the United States shall be vested 
in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress 
may from time to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of 
the Supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good 
behavior, and shall, at stated times, receive for their services a com- 
pensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance 
in office. 

Sect. 2. The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law 
and equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United 
States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their au- 
thority; to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, 
and consuls; to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; to 
controversies to which the United States shall be a party; to 
controversies between two or more States, between a State and citi- 
zens of another State, between citizens of difTerent States, between 
citizens of the same State claiming lands under grants of different 
States, and between a State, or the citizens thereof, and foreign 
states, citizens, or subjects. 

In all cases affecting ambassadors, other pliblic ministers, and 
consuls, and those in which a State shall be party, the Supreme 
Court shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before 
mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, 
both as to law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such regula- 
tions, as the Congress shall make. 

The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be 
by jury; and such trial shall be held in the State where the said 



APPENDIX xxi 

crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within 
any State, the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress 
may by law have directed. 

Sect. 3. Treason against the United States shall consist only in 
levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving 
them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason 
unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or 
on confession in open court. 

The Congress shaU have power to declare the punishment of 
treason, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, 
or forfeiture, except during the Hfe of the person attainted. 

ARTICLE IV 

Sect. 1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to 
the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other 
State. And the Congress may by general laws prescribe the man- 
ner in which such acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved, 
and the effect thereof. 

Sect. 2. The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privi- 
leges and immunities of citizens in the several States. 

A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other 
crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another State, 
shall, on demand of the executive authority of the State from which 
he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having juris- 
diction of the crime. 

No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws 
thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or 
regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but 
shaU be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or 
labor may be due. 

Sect. 3. New States may be admitted by the Congress into 
this Union; but no New State shall be formed or erected within 
the jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by 
the junction of two or more States, or parts of States, without 
the consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned, as well as 
of the Congress. 

The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all need- 
ful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property 
belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution 



xxii HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United 
States, or of any particular State. 

Sect. 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in 
this Union a republican form of government, and shall protect 
each of them against invasion; and on application of the Legisla- 
ture, or of the Executive (when the Legislature can not be con- 
vened), against domestic violence. 

ARTICLE V 

The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem it 
necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the 
application of the Legislatures of two-thirds of the several States, 
shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either 
case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Con- 
stitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three-fourths of the 
several States, or by conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one 
or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; 
provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year 
one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect 
the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; 
and that no State, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal 
suffrage in the Senate. 

ARTICLE VI 

All debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the 
adoption of this Constitution shall be as valid against the United 
States under this Constitution as under the Confederation. 

This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall 
be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall 
be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the 
supreme law of the land; and the judges in every State shall be 
bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any State to 
the contrary notwithstanding. 

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the 
members of the several. State Legislatures, and all executive and 
judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several States, 
shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution; 
but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any 
office or public trust under the United States. 



APPENDIX xxiii 

ARTICLE VII 

The ratification of the conventions of nine States shall be suf- 
ficient for the estabhshment of this Constitution between the States 
so ratifying the same. 

Done in Convention, by the unanimous consent of the States present, 
the seventeenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one 
thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, and of the Independence 
of the United States of America the twelfth. 
Sn Wiitntse whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names. 
[Signed by] G° : Washington, 

Presidt. and Deputy from Virginia, 
and by thirty-nine delegates. 



xxiv HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



ARTICLES 

IN ADDITION TO, AND AMENDMENT OF, 

THE CONSTITUTION OF 
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



ARTICLE I 



Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of re- 
ligion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the 
freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peace- 
ably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of 
grievances. 

ARTICLE II 

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free 
state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shaU not be 
infringed. 

ARTICLE III 

No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house, 
without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a man- 
ner to be prescribed by law. 

ARTICLE IV 

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, 
papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall 
not be violated, and no warrants shaU issue but upon probable cause, 
supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the 
place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. 

ARTICLE V 

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise in- 
famous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, 
except in cases aifising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia. 



APPENDIX XXV 

when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall 
any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy 
of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a 
witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, 
without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for 
public use without just compensation. 

ARTICLE VI 

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to 
a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jur> of the State and dis- 
trict wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district 
shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of 
the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the 
witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining 
witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his 
defence. 

ARTICLE VII 

In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall 
exceed twenty doUars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, 
and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any 
court of the United States, than according to the rules of the com- 
mon law. 

ARTICLE VIII 

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, 
nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. 

ARTICLE IX 

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not 
be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. 

ARTICLE X 

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitu- 
tion, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States 
respectively, or to the people. 



xxvi HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

ARTICLE XI 

The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed 
to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted 
against one of the United States by citizens of another State, or by 
citizens or subjects of any foreign state. 

ARTICLE XII 

The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by 
ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, 
shall not be an inhabitant of the same S^^^ate with themselves; they 
shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in 
distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President; and they 
shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of 
all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes 
for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed 
to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the 
President of the Senate; — the President of the Senate shall, in the 
presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the 
certificates, and the votes shall then be counted; — the person having 
the greatest number of votes for President shall be the President, if 
such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors ap- 
pointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the per- 
sons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of 
those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall 
choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the 
President, the votes shall be taken by States; the representation from 
each State having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist 
of a member or members from two-thirds of the States, and a 
majority of all the States shall be necessary to a choice. And if the 
House of Representatives shall not choose a President, whenever the 
right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of 
March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, 
as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the 
President. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice- 
President shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority 
of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if nO person have a 
majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list the Senate 
shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall 
consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a ma- 
jority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no 



APPENDIX xxvii 

person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be 
eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States. 

ARTICLE XIII 

Sect. 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a 
punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly con- 
victed, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to 
their jurisdiction. 

Sect. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by 
appropriate legislation. 

ARTICLE XIV 

Sect. L All persons born or naturalized in the United States, 
and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United 
States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make 
or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities 
of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any 
person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor 
deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of 
the laws. 

Sect. 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the sev- 
eral States according to their respective numbers, counting the 
whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not 
taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of 
Electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, 
Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a 
State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any 
of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age 
and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except 
for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representa- 
tion therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number 
of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citi- 
zens twenty-one years of age in such State. 

Sect. 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in 
Congress, or Elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any 
office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any 
State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Con- 
gress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any 
State Legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, 



xxviii HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged 
in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or com- 
fort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two- 
thirds of each House, remove such disabihty. 

Sect. 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, 
authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions 
and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, 
shall not be questioned. But neither the United States, nor any 
State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of 
insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for 
the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obliga- 
tions, and claims shall be held illegal and void. 

Sect. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appro- 
priate legislation, the provisions of this article. 
ARTICLE XV 

Sect. 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall 
not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any State, on 
account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. 

Sect. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article 
by appropriate legislation. 

ARTICLE XVI 

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, 
from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the 
several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration. 

ARTICLE XVII 

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Sena- 
tors from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; 
and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State 
shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most nu- 
merous branch of the State legislatures. 

When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the 
Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of elec- 
tion to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State 
may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments 
until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may 
direct. 

This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the elec- 
tion or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part 
of the Constitution. 



INDEX 



Abercrombie, io8. 

Abolitionists, 296, 315-317, 320, 
368; persecuted, 316. 

Acts of trade, 137. 

Adams, Charles F., 341, 419. 

Adams, Charles F., Jr., quoted, 488. 

Adams, John, quoted, 121, 122, 138, 
152; defends British soldiers, 147; 
peace commissioner, 176, 177; 
Vice-President, 198, 208; Presi- 
dent, 215-221; character, 215; 
portrait, 215; candidate for Presi- 
dent, 220. 

Adams, John Q., Secretary of State, 
257; quoted, 257, 258; elected 
President, 279; administration, 
279-288; portrait, 280; character, 
280; opposed to gag rule, 318. 

Adams, Samuel, portrait, 113; letter 
to the Colonies, 145; in the town 
meeting, 147; favors war, 152. 

Advertisement for a runaway slave, 
115; from New York Gazette, 
1771, 123. 

Agriculture, development of West 
and, 541. 

Aguinaldo, 521. 

Alabama, admitted, 267; joins Con- 
federacy, 382, 387; readmitted, 
441. 

Alabama claims, 419, 448, 449. 

Alabama letters, 322. 

Alabama, the, 419. 

Alaska purchased, 443, 520; boun- 
dary of, 529. 

Albany Congress, 104. 

Alexander VI, bull of, 17. 

Algeria, trouble with, 224. 

Alien law, 218. 

Allouez, 100. 

Amendments, first ten, 196; 
eleventh, 213, 214; twelfth, 221; 
thirteenth, 426, 473; fourteenth, 
438, 439, 440, 441; fifteenth, 446; 
sixteenth, 533, 534. 



America, discovery of, by Columbus, 

7; naming of, 12. 
American colonies, 519, 520; policy 

toward, 520, 521; conditions in, 

521. 
American Federation of Labor, 

492; 

American people, condition of, in 
1765, 112-131; in 1830, 293-297; 
to-day, 552-562. See also Indus- 
trial conditions. 

Amherst, General Jeffrey, 109. 

Anderson, Major, 381, 386, 387. 

Andre, Major, 170. 

Andros, Sir Edmund, 71, 77, 79. 

Annapolis Convention, 189. 

Annexation of Louisiana, 230-233; 
of Florida, 268; of Texas, 321-326; 
of Oregon, 327; of Cahfornia and 
the West, 336; Gadsden purchase, 
336; of Alaska, 443; of the Philip- 
pines, 519, 520; of Porto Rico, 
519; of Hawaii, 500, 520. 

Antietam, battle of, 403. 

Appomattox, surrender of Lee at, 
427. 

Arbitration, of Venezuelan dispute, 
510; treaty, 510; of coal strike dif- 
ferences, 543; of Alaskan bound- 
ary dispute, 529; Hague confer- 
ence, 530, 531. See also Alabama 
Claims, Seal Fisheries. 

Arkansas, admitted, 305; secedes, 
387; readmitted, 441. 

Armada, the, 23. 

Arnold, Benedict, attacks Quebec, 
158; treason, 170. 

Aroostook war, 313. 

Art in America, 559. 

Arthur, Chester A., elected Vice- 
President, 467, 468; becomes 
President, 470; character, 470; 
administration, 470-473. 

Articles of Association of First Con- 
tinental Congress, 151. 



XXIX 



XXX 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



Articles of Confederation. See Con- 
federation. 

Ashburton treaty, the, 313. 

Asia, desire to reach, 8. 

Assembly, first in America, ^s- 

Association, the, 151. 

Assumption of State debts, 204. 

Atlanta, capture of, 420, 425; growth 
of, 436. 

Atlantic cable, 443. 

Azores, the, 17. 

Bacon's rebellion, 38. 

Balboa, 13. 

Ballot reform, 502, 503. 

Ball's Blufif, battle of, 400. 

Baltimore, Lord, 41; founds Mary- 
land, 41. 

Bancroft, George, 294, 326. 

Bank, the first, 205; the second, 
257-259; new charter vetoed, 302; 
removal of deposits, 303; Na:tional 
Bank Act, 412, 413. 

Barbary war, 224. 

Barclay, Commodore, 249. 

Barlow, Asa, 477. 

Barnburners, the, 340. 

Beauregard, General, 386, 390. 

Behaira globe, 9. 

Belknap, W. W., 453. 

Bell, John, nominated for President, 

377- 
Belligerency of Confederacy, 392. 
Bennington, battle of, 165, 166. 
Benton, Thomas H., quoted, 259, 

330; offers expunging resolution, 

304- 
Berkeley, Lord John, 78. 
Berkeley, Sir William, 37; quoted, 

38. 39- 

Berlin Decree, 239. 

Bills of Rights, 162. 

Bimetallism, 504. 

Birmingham, 486. 

Birney, James G., 322. 

Black, Jeremiah S., 365, 380. 

Blaine, J. G., 466, 467; Secretary of 
State, 468, 498-500, 503; nomi- 
nated for presidency, 472. 

Blair, Francis P., Jr., nominated for 
vice-presidency, 443. 

Bland-Allison Bill, 462. 

Bonds, issue of, 510. 



Booth, J. W., 433- 

Boston, founded, 59; early settle- 
ment of, 62, 63; map, 156; evacu- 
ated by British, 158. 

Boston massacre, the, 147. 

Boston Port Bill, 148, 149. 

Boston Tea Party, the, 148. 

Boundary of the United States, 177, 
178, 313- 328. 336, 449, 552. See 
also Annexation. 

Braddock's defeat, 105, 106. 

Bradford, William, quoted, 51-55; 
his manuscript history, 53. 

Bradley, J. P., 457. 

Bragg, General, 399, 410, 411. 

Brandywine, battle of, 167. 

Breckinridge, John C, elected Vice- 
President, 363; nominated for 
President, 376. 

Bristow, B. H., 453. 

Brooks, Preston S., 362. 

Brown, B. G., nominated for vice- 
presidency, 450. 

Brown, General J., 251. 

Brown, John, raid of, 375, 376; his 
fort, 375. 

Brj^an, William J., 512, 522, 551. 

Buchanan, James, Secretary of 
State, 326; minister to England, 
354; elected President, 363; por- 
trait, 365; character, 365; admin- 
istration, 365-384; message, 380; 
the Southern forts, 380, 381. 

Buckner, Simon B., 512. 

Buell, General, 398. 

Buena Vista, battle of, 334. 

Building ordinances, 546. 

Bull of demarcation, 17. 

Bull Run, battle of, 390; second bat- 
tle of, 403. 

Bunker Hill, battle of, 156. 

Bureau of Corporations, 531. 

Burgoyne, General John, 165; sur- 
renders, 166. 

Burke, Edmund, 152; quoted, 89, 
121, 131, 136, 141, 145. 

Burnside, General, 403. 

Burr, Aaron, candidate for Vice- 
President, 215; elected Vice-Presi- 
dent, 220, 221; duel with Hamil- 
ton, 228; conspiracy, 229. 

Butler, Benjamin F., 472. 

Butler, William O., 340. 



INDEX 



XXXI 



Cabinet, the first, 200-202; nature 
of, 201; changes in, 213. 

Cable, Atlantic, 443. 

Cabot, John, 9, 10. 

Calhoun, John C, enters Congress, 
244; Secretary of War, 257; prin- 
ciples, 262, 299, 346, 382; quoted, 
264, 298, 300, 330; Vice-President, 
279, 289; portrait, 299; resigns 
vice-presidency, 301; position, on 
annexation of Texas, 321; on 
slavery, 340, 346. 

California, desire to obtain, 329; 
conquered, 334; annexed, 336; 
gold discovered, 343; admitted, 
343-347; growth of, 475, 476, 480. 

Calvert, Cecilius, 41. 

Calvert, George, 41. See also Balti- 
more. 

Camden, battle of, 172. 

Cameron, Simon, 386, 395. 

Canada, trade relations with, 534. 
See also New France. 

Cape Verde Islands, 17. 

Capitol, site for, 204, 205. 

Carolinas, the, early history, 44-47; 
charter, 44; map of grant, 45; be- 
ginning of North Carolina, 45; 
beginning of South Carolina, 45; 
Locke's "Grand Model", 46; in 
eighteenth century, 91, 92, 93; 
become royal colonies, 91. See 
also North Carolina and South 
Carolina. 

Caroline affair, the, 313. 

Carpet-bag government, 442, 447. 

Carroll, Charles, 284, 285. 

Carteret, Sir George, 78. 

Carteret, Philip, 78. 

Cartier, Jacques, 19. 

Cass, Lewis, writes Nicholson letter, 
339; nominated for President, 340; 
Secretary of State, 365; resigns, 
380. 

Cattle industry, 481, 482, 541. 

Caucus system, 277, 278. 

Cavaliers, immigration of, 36. 

Cedar Creek, battle of, 418. 

Central Pacific Railroad, 478. 

Cerro Gordo, battle of, 335. 

Cervera, Admiral, 517, 518. 

Champlain, Samuel de, 98. 

-Chancellorsville, battle of, 408. 



Chapultepec, battle of, 335. 

Charles I, 35, 36, 55. 

Charles II, 38, 44, 45, 70. 

Charleston founded, 45; attacked 
by British, 158, 172; convention 
at, 378; map, 387. 

Charleston Mercury, 379. 

Chase, Salmon P., 353; Secretary of 
Treasury, 386; resigns, 423; made 
Chief Justice, 423; presides at 
impeachment trial, 441. 

Chatham. See Pitt, William. 

Chattanooga, battle of, 411. 

Cherry Valley massacre, 171. 

Chesapeake, the affair of the, 238. 

Chicago, 247, 306, 506. 

Chickamauga, battle of, 410. 

Child labor laws, 544. 

Chili, trouble with, 499. 

China, attitude of U. S. toward, 529. 

Chinese, exclusion of, 471. 

Chippewa, battle of, 252. 

Christ Church, Boston, view of, 96. 

Christina, Fort, 75. 

Cities, growth of, 484, 485, 538; 
problems of, 546; commission 
government of, 547. See also In- 
dustrial Conditions. 

Civil Rights bill, 437, 438. 

Civil service reform, 450, 470, 494, 

495- 

Civil war, causes, 376-384; progress, 
387-429; losses, 431; effects, 445, 
446. 

Clark, George Rogers, services, 171, 
172. 

Clark, William. See Lewis and 
Clark. 

Clay, Henry, as speaker, 243, 244; 
portrait, 244; and the Missouri 
compromise, 273; candidate for 
President, 278; Secretary of State, 
281; character, 303; candidate for 
presidency, 303, 2,22; in 1840, 310; 
quoted, 310, 345; offers compro- 
mise of 1850, 345; death, 353. 

Clermont, the, 234. 

Cleveland, Grover, elected Presi- 
dent, 472, 473; life and character, 
493; portrait, 493; first adminis- 
tration, 493-498; renominated, 
497; Hawaiian policy, 500; re- 
nominated and elected, 503, 504; 



XXXll 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



second administration, 504-513; 
Venezuelan message, 509. 

Clinton, De Witt, and the Erie 
Canal, 262. 

Clinton George, Vice-President, 
240. 

Clinton, Sir Henry, 158, 169. 

Cobb, Howell, 365, 380. 

Cold Harbor, battle of, 416. 

Colfax, Schuyler, elected Vice-Presi- 
dent, 443, 444. 

Colombia and the Panama Canal, 

525- 

Colonies, European, in America, 
1650, 75; map showing types of 
government in, 93. See also 
English Colonies, English Colon- 
ization, French Colonization, etc. 

Colorado, 475. 

Columbus, Christopher, 6; first voy- 
age, 7; discovers America, 7; other 
discoveries, 7; portrait of, 7; 
death of, 8; map of voyages of, 8. 

Commerce, with the East, 2; New 
England, in 1760, 121; regulation 
of interstate, 489, 495, 534. 

Commission government, 547. 

Committees of Correspondence, 147. 

Compromise, in Constitutional Con- 
vention, 191, 192; Missouri, 272, 
273; of 1833, 301; of 1850, 345- 
347- 351, 356; the Crittenden, 
381. 

Comstock lode, the, 475. 

"Concessions, the", 78. 

Concord, battle of, 154. 

Conestoga wagon, 264. 

Confederacy, Southern, formed, 382; 
belligerency acknowledged, 392; 
difficulty in supporting war, 429. 

Confederation, Articles of, proposed, 
169, 180; ratified, 180; character 
of, 180-182; trouble during, 182- 
184, 188. 

Confederation, New England, 69, 
70. 

Congress, the Albany, 104. See 
also Continental Congress. 

Congress of the Confederation, 
powers of, 180-182. 

Conkling, Roscoe, 466, 467, 468, 
469. 

Connecticut, 66-68; fundamental 



orders of, 67; charter, 70; in con- 
federation, 69; in eighteenth cen- 
tury, 90; western claims of, 185, 
186. 

Conservation of natural resources, 
539- 540. 

Constitution, framed, 190-195; char- 
acter of, 193, 194, 196; ratified, 
195, 196; broad and strict con- 
struction, 206, 282. 

Constitution, the, battle of, with the 
Guerriere, 248; cut of, 248. 

Constitutions, first State, 159, 161. 

Continental Congress, the First, 
150; its declarations, 150; Arti- 
cles of Association, 151. 

Continental Congress, the Second, 
meets, 155; incompetency, 168, 169. 

Convention, the Federal, meeting 
of, 189, 190; membership, 190; 
work of, 190-193. 

Cooley, Judge Thomas M., 495. 

Cooper, J. Fennimore, 293. 

Cornwallis, General, 164; baffled by 
Washington, 164; in the South,' 
172-175; baffled by Lafayette, 
174; surrenders, 175. 

Coronado, 14. 

Corporations, 489; and politics, 531, 
532; machinery and, 541; control 
of, 542. 

Cortez, Hernando, 15. 

Cosby, Governor, 90. 

Cotton, 270, 271, 372, 392, 396; after 
Civil War, 486. 

Cotton gin, 270; picture of, 270. 

Court, Federal, established, 203, 
225; second judiciary act, 224, 
225; judges impeached, 226; de- 
velopment of, 227. 

Court, general. See Fundamental 
Orders. 

Courtesy of the Senate, 469. 

Cowpens, battle of, 174. 

Crandal!, Prudence, 316. 

Crawford, William H., 257, 278. j 

Credit Mobilier, 452. ■ 

Crittenden, Senator, 381. ' 

Crown Point, attacked by English, 
106; taken by Americans, 155. 

Cuba, desire to obtain, 354, 380; re- J 
bellion in, 508, 515; United States f 
declares independence of, 517; 



INDEX 



xxxm 



war in, 517, 518; under control of 
United States, 519, 522; complete 
independence of, 522; relations of 
United States with, 530. 
Culebra cut on Panama Canal, 525 
Cumberland road, 261; map of, 261 
Currency, 257, 412, 413, 429, 454 
504, 510; demonetization of sil- 
ver, 461; Bland-Allison Bill, 462 
the silver question, 461, 462, 495, 
496, 501, 505, 506, 510-512; the 
Sherman Act, 501, 505. 

Dallas, George M., Vice-President, 
322. 

Davis, JeiTerson, 353; Confederate 
President, 382; portrait, 383. 

Dayton, William L., 363. 

Dearborn, General, 250. 

Debt, national, 203, 204, 431, 444; 
State, assumption of, 204. 

Declaratory Act, 143. 

Delaware, early history of, 75, 84. 

Democracy, 276, 293, 296, 297, 560. 

Democratic party, divided, 376; at- 
titude toward the war, 395. See 
also Party. 

De Soto, 13. 

Detroit, founded, loi, 102; surren- 
der of, 247. 

Development of the United States, 
552-562. 

Dewey, Commodore, 517. 

Dickinson, John, 145. 

Direct primaries, 502, 503, 547. 

Discovery, Spanish, 13-15. 

Distribution of surplus revenue, 305. 

"Divorce Bill", 309. 

Dixon, Archibald, 355. 

Donelson, Andrew J., 363. 

Donelson, Fort, 397, 398. 

Douglas, Stephen A., supports Kan- 
sas-Nebraska bill, 356, 35S; de- 
bate with Lincoln, 369; nomi- 
nated for President, 377. 

Draft, the, 414; riots, 414. 

Drake, Sir Francis, voyages of, 22. 

Dred Scott case, 366. 

Duane, William J., 303. 

Duquesne, Fort, 105, 106, 109. 

Dutch, the, settle in America, 73, 74; 
lose New Netherland, 76; charac- 
ter of, 77. 

40 



Early, General, 417. 

East, the, trade with, 2; books on, 3. 
See also China and Japan. 

Education, in colonies, 39, 62, 63, 
117, 122, 125; in the United 
States, 295, 297, 558, 559; in the 
South, 374, 375; in the Philip- 
pines, 530. 

Eighteenth century, character of, 
88, 89, 95; history of, 87-94. 

El Caney, battle of, 518. 

Election of 1789, 198; 1792, 208; 
1796, 215; 1800, 220; 1804, 228; 
1808, 240; 1812, 246; 1816, 257; 
1820, 257; 1824, 278, 279; 1828, 
288, 289; 1832, 302, 303; 1836, 
307; 1840, 309-311; 1844, 322, 
323; 1848, 340-342; 1852, 352; 
1856, 363, 364; i860, 376-378; 
1864, 423-425; 1868, 443, 444; 
1872, 450, 451; 1876, 454-458; 
1880, 466-468; 1884, 472, 473; 
1888, 497; 1892, 503, 504; 1896, 
511-513; 1900, 522; 1904, 531; 
1908, 531; 1912, 549, 550. 

Electoral Commission, the, 457. 

Electoral count act, 494. 

Electoral reform, 502, 503. 

Ellsworth, Oliver, 190, 203. 

Emancipation Proclamation, 405; 
issued, 406; facsimile of, 407; re- 
sults, 408. 

Embargo, 239. 

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 294; 
quoted, 296. 

Employers' liability acts, 544, 545. 

Endicott, John, 57. 

England, in sixteenth century, 20; 
hatred of Spain, 21; in seven- 
teenth century, 35, 36; claims in 
eighteenth century, 87, 94; wars 
with France, 87, 97-111, 236; 
condition of, in eighteenth cen- 
tury, 106; representation in, 133- 
135; trouble with, 189, 209, 313; 
at war with France, 209, 210, 236; 
War of 181 2, 245-255; treaty 
with, see Treaties; acknowledges 
belligerency of South, 392; and 
the Trent affair, 396; Alabama 
trouble, see Alabama Claims; seal 
fisheries question, 499, 507; Sa- 
moan question, 499; Venezuela 



xxxiv HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



question, 509, 510; relation of 
United States with, 529. 

English church, 43. 

English colonies, political character, 
88, 89; in eighteenth century, 87- 
95; strength of, in French and 
Indian War, 107; conditions in, 
in 1760, 112-132; schools, 117, 
122, 125; local government 126- 
129; forms of government, 130, 
131; spirit of liberty in, 131. 

English colonization, motives for, 
24, 25; character of, 102. 

English, W. H., nominated for Vice- 
President, 467. 

Era of good feeling, 257, 280. 

Erie Canal, 262; map of, 262; pic- 
ture of lock of, 263. 

Erskine treaty, 241. 

Essex, cruise of, 253. 

Everett, Edward, 294; quoted, 354; 
nominated for Vice-President, 

377- 

Excise bill, Hamilton's, 205; opposi- 
tion to, 208, 209. 

Expansion, policy of, 520, 526. 

Expunging resolution, 304. 

Factory system, 483. 

Fair Oaks, battle of, 401. 

"Farmer's Letters", 145. 

Farragut, David G., 400, 418. 

Federalist, the, 195. 

Federalist party, 207, 218; downfall, 

229; conspiracy, 227, 228. See 

also Party. 
Field, James G., 504. 
Fillmore, Millard, elected Vice- 
President, 341; President, 348- 

352; character, 348; nominated 

for President, 363. 
Financial questions. See Currency 

Banks, Debt. 
Fisheries, the, 449, 450. 
Five Nations, the. See Iroquois. 
Florida, annexed, 268; admitted, 

342; joins Confederacy, 382, 387; 

readmitted, 441; election of 1876 

in, 456. 
Florida, West, Spanish claim to, 

178, 231, 268; seized, 232. 
Floyd, John £.,365, 380. 
Foote, Commodore, 396, 398. 



Force bills, 301, 448. 

Fox, Charles J., 152. 

Fox, George, 80, 81. 

"Frame of Government", 83, 85. 

France, explorations of, 19; claims 
in i8th Century, 87; wars with 
England, 87, 97-1 11, 209, 210, 
236; colonization, 98; alliance 
with, 167, 168; sends Genet to 
America, 210, 211; difficulties 
with, 216-218, 238-241; sells 
Louisiana to United States, 231; 
proclamation of neutrality, 392. 
See also New France. 

Franklin, Benjamin, his plan of 
Union, 104; protrait, 125; birth- 
place, 126; quoted, 136, 155, 159, 
373; in France, 167; peace commis- 
sioner, 176, 177; in Philadelphia 
convention, 190. 

Fraunces' tavern, 176. 

Frederick, King, 106. 

Fredericksburg, battle of, 403. 

Freedmen's Bureau act, 440. 

Free-soil party, 341. See also 
Party. 

Frelinghuysen, Theodore, 322. 

Fremont, John C, nominated for 
President, 363, 423. 

French and Indian War, 106-111; 
maps of, 107, 108; important re- 
sults of, no. III. 

French colonization, failure of, in 
South, 19; success of, in North, 
20; beginnings, 98; character, 102, 
103. 

French decrees, 238, 242. 

French explorers, 100, loi. 

Friends. See Quakers. 

Frontenac, Fort, 109. 

Fugitive slave law, 347, 348; vio- 
lated, 360, 367. 

Fulton, Robert, steamboat invented 
by, 234. 

Fundamental Orders. See Connec- 
ticut. 

Gadsden purchase, the, 336. 

Gage, General, 154, 156. 

Gallatin, Albert, Secretary of the 
Treasury, 224, 241. 

Garfield, James A., elected presi- 
dent, 467-469; administration, 



INDEX 



XXXV 



468-470; life and character, 46S; 
assassinated, 469. 

Garrison, William L., 315-317; por- 
trait of, 316; quoted, 316, 317, 
352- 

Gaspee, the, destroyed, 147. 

Gates, General Horatio, 166; de- 
feated at Camden, 172. 

Genet, Citizen, 210, 211. 

Geneva award, 449. 

George, Fort, 250. 

George III, purposes of, 135, 151, 
152; hires mercenaries, 157; loses 
America, 175. 

Georgia, settlement of, 94, 95; char- 
acter of, 95; becomes a ro}'al col- 
ony, 95; attitude of, before the 
Revolution, 150; Indian troubles 
in, 286; joins the Confederacy, 
382, 387. 

Germantown, battle of, 167. 

Germany, Samoan question and,499. 

Gerry, Elbridge, Commissioner, 216; 
Vice-President, 246. 

Gettysburg, battle of, 408, 409. 

Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, 23, 519. 

Gorges, Ferdinando, 68; grant to, 68. 

Graham, William A., 352. 

Granger movement, 487. 

Grant, Ulysses S., quoted, 335, 422, 
429; in Mexican war, 335; in civil 
war, 397, 398, 399, 409-411, 414- 
416, 427; portrait, 415; elected 
President, 443, 444; administra- 
tion, 444-458; life and character, 
444; re-elected, 451; in conven- 
tion of 1880, 467. 

Greeley, Horace, quoted, 312, 390; 
nominated for Presidency, 450. 

Greenback party, 455. 

Greenbacks issued, 412; specie pay- 
ment, 454, 462. 

Greene, General Nathanael, in the 
South, 174. 

Greenville, treaty of, 212. 

Grenville, George, 139. 

Guadaloupe Hidalgo, treaty of, 336. 

Guilford Court House, battle of, 1 74. 

Guiteau, 470. 

Hague conference, 530. 
Hale, John P., 352. 
"Half-breeds", the, 468. 



Halifax award, the, 450. 

Halleck, General, 402. 

Hamilton, Alexander, quoted, 188, 
189; in Annapolis convention, 189; 
in Philadelphia convention, 190; 
in New York convention, 195; 
writes Federalist articles, 195; 
Secretary of the Treasury, 200- 
213; financial plans, 203-205; 
portrait, 204; death of, 228; char- 
acter, 228. 

Hamilton, Andrew, 90. 

Hamlin, Hannibal, elected Vice- 
President, 377, 378; mentioned, 
424. 

Hampton Roads, battle of, 400. 

Hancock, General W. S., nominated 
for presidency, 467. 

Harper's Ferry, seized by Brown, 
376; captured, 403. 

Harrison, Benjamin, elected Presi- 
dent, 497; administration, 498- 
504; life and character of, 498; 
portrait, 498; renominated, 503. 

Harrison, William H., at battle of 
Tippecanoe, 243; at Fort Meigs, 
249; at the Thames, 250; nomi- 
nated for the presidency, 307, 
310; character, 310, 311; elected, 
311; administration, 311; death, 

311- 

Hartford, founded, 67. 

Hartford convention, 254. 

Harvard College founded, 63. 

Hawaiian Islands, revolution in, 
500; annexed, 500, 520. 

Hawkins, John, 22. 

Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 293. 

Hay, John, 527. 

Hayes, R. B., nominated for presi- 
dency, 454; elected, 457; quoted, 
458; life and character, 459; por- 
trait, 459; administration, 459- 
468; vetoes Bland-Allison Bill, 
462; opposed to riders, 463. 

Hayne, Senator, 300. 

Hendricks, T. A., nominated for 
vice-presidency, 455, 472; death 
of, 494. 

Henry, Fort, 396, 397. 

Henry, Patrick, portrait of, 133; 
speech in parson's cause, 138; res- 
olutions, 141; quoted, 154. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



Herkimer, General Nicholas, i66. 

Hessians, defeated, 164. 

Historical writing, 558. 

Hobart, Garret A., elected Vice- 
President, 51 1-5 1 2. 

Hobson, Lieutenant, 51S. 

Holland in seventeenth century, 73. 

Holmes, O. W., 558. 

Holy Alliance, the, 273. 

Homestead act, 481. 

Hood, General, 421, 422. 

Hooker, General, 408, 411. 

Hooker, Thomas, 66, 67. 

Houston, Samuel, 321. 

Howe, General, 158, 163, 164; fail- 
ure, 164; proceeds to Philadel- 
phia, 167; succeeded by Clinton, 
169. 

Howe, Richard, offers pardon, 163. 

Hudson, Henry, 73. 

Hull, Commodore Isaac, 248. 

Hull, General William, 247. 

Hunkers, 340. 

Hutchinson, Anne, 65. 

Hutchinsons, the, 319. 

Idaho admitted, 481. 
Illinois admitted, 267. 
Immigration, 305, 323, 350, 483, 

538, 553- 

Impeachment of judges, 226; of 
President, 441; of Secretary of 
War, 453. 

Imperialism, policy of, 514-526. 

Implied powers, 206. 

Impressment, 237, 245. 

Income tax, 504, 508. 

Independence, Declaration of, 151, 
158, 159; original draft, 160. 

Independent Treasury, 309, 326. 

Indian treaty belt, 37. 

Indiana, admitted, 267. 

Indians, uprising of, in Virginia, 34; 
the Pequot War, 67; in the Revo- 
lution, 171; hostile, 211; defeated, 
212; Battle of Tippecanoe, 243; 
in War of 1812, 243, 247, 248, 251; 
in Georgia, 286; removed to res- 
ervations, 287. 

Industrial conditions, 114-117, 120, 
125, 184, 234, 239, 256-271, 298, 
304-309, 350, 351, 370-374. 388, 
412, 413, 444, 454, 474-492, 505, 



506, 535-546; railroads, see Rail- 
roads; strikes, 489-491, 543; la- 
bor organizations, 489-492, 543; 
changes of a century, 553-556. 
See also West, the. 

Initiative, referendum and recall, 
547- 

Inland Waterways Commission, 539. 

Intercolonial wars, 88, 97-110. 

Internal improvements, 260-262, 
283, 306, 478. 

Interstate Commerce Act, 489, 495, 
534- 

Intolerable acts, the five, 147-150. 

Intolerance, in England, 50; in 
Massachusetts, 63-65. 

Inventions, 234, 294, 295, 351. 

Iowa admitted, 342; growth of, 480. 

Iroquois, friends of the Dutch, 74; 
foes of the French, 98, 99. See 
also Indians. 

Irrigation, 540. 

Irving, Washington, 293. 

Italy, trouble with, 499. 

Jackson, Andrew, defeats Indians, 
251; at New Orleans, 253; in 
Florida, 268; candidate for Presi- 
dent, 278; elected President, 289; 
portrait, 290; character, 290, 291; 
President, 290-306; proclamation, 
301; vetoes Bank Bill, 302; with- 
draws deposits, 303. 

Jackson, British minister, 241. 

Jackson, Thomas J., 401, 402, 403. 

Jacksonian era, 290-314. 

James I, 25, 51, 55. 

James II, 71, 76, 77. 

Jamestown, Va., settlement of, 28; 
early history, 28. 

Japan, attitude of United States 
toward, 529. 

Jay, John, peace commissioner, 176, 
177; writes in the Federalist, 195; 
portrait, 199; chief justice, 203; 
envoy, 213; his treaty, 213. 

Jefferson, Thomas, quoted, 116, 129, 
223, 273, 290; drafts Declaration 
of Independence, 159; peace com- 
missioner, 176; submits ordinance 
of 1784, 187; Secretary of State, 
200, 202, 206, 207, 213; Vice- 
President, 215; writes the Ken- 



INDEX 



tucky Resolutions, 219; elected 
President, 220, 221, 228; p^esi- 
dency, 223-240; character and 
principles, 223; portrait, 223; buys 
Louisiana, 230-233; embargo pol- 
icy, 239. 

Jesuit explorers, 100, loi. 

Johnson, Andrew, elected Vice- 
President, 424, 425; President, 
433; character, 434; administra- 
tion, 434-444; plans of recon- 
struction, 436; impeachment of, 
441. 

Johnson, Herschel V., 377. 

Johnson, Hiram W., 549. 

Johnston, General J. E., 390, 420, 
427, 428. 

Joliet, his map, .100; on the Missis- 
sippi, lOI. 

Jones, John Paul, 170, 171. 

Judiciary act, 224, 255. 

Julian, George W., 352. 

Kansas, struggle in, 361, 362, 368, 
369; admitted, 474; growth of, 
480. 

Kansas-Nebraska bill, 355, 356. 

Kaskaskia captured, 171. 

Kearny, General, 334. 

Kearsarge, the fight with the Ala- 
bama, 419. 

Kentucky, at time of Revolution, 
171; settlers in, 183; admitted, 
213; resolutions, 219; does not 
join Confederacy, 387, 393. 

King, Rufus, 190. 

King, William R., elected Vice- 
President, 352. 

King George's War, 104. 

King William's War, 103. 

King's College, 125. 

King's Mountain, battle of, 172. 

Knights of Labor, 491. 

Know-Nothing party, 359. 

Knox, Henry, 200, 202. 

Ku-KIux-Klan, 447. 

Labor. See Industrial Conditions. 
Labor organizations, 489-492, 543. 
Ladrone Islands, 519. 
Lafayette, Marquis de, 168, 174. 
La Hontan's map, 103. 
Lake Champlain, battle of, 252. 



Lake Erie, battle of, 249. 

Land grants, to railroads, 478-481; 
to individuals, 481. 

Lane, Joseph, 376. 

La Salle, Robert de, loi. 

Laud, William, 55. 

Laurens, Henry, 176. 

Lawrence, Captain, 251. 

Lecompton Constitution, 369. 

Lee, General Charles, treachery of, 
169. 

Lee, Richard Henry, 158. 

Lee, Robert E., 335, 401, 402, 403, 
408, 409, 415, 416, 427, 428; por- 
trait, 402. 

Legal Tender Act, 412. 

Leisler, Jacob, 77. 

Lenox globe, 14. 

Leonard, Benedict, 44. 

Lewis and Clark, expedition of, 233, 
234- 

Lexington, battle of, 154. 

Liberator, the, 315, 316. 

Lincoln, Abraham, early life, 266; 
debates with Douglas, 369; elected 
President, 377, 378; administra- 
tion, 385-432; life and character, 
385; portrait, 385; first acts 
against secession, 394; attitude 
toward emancipation, 404, 405; 
issues proclamation, 405; renomi- 
nated and elected, 424, 425; as- 
sassination, 433. 

Literature, American, 293, 294, 558. 

Livingston, Robert R., 231. 

Locke, John, 46. 

Log Cabin campaign, 310, 311. 

Logan, John A., nominated for vice- 
presidency, 472. 

London Company, 25-27; grant 
under charter of 1606, 26, 27; 
grant under charter of 1609, 30; 
loss of charter, 34. 

Longfellow, 294. 

Long Island, battle of, 163. 

Lookout Mountain, battle of, 411. 

Loudon, General, 108. 

Louisiana, first settlement in, loi; 
purchase of, 230-233; western 
boundary determined, 268; State 
joins Confederacy, 382, 387; re- 
admitted, 441; election of 1876 in, 
456. 



xxxviii HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



Lovejoy, Elijah P., 316. 

Lowell, James R., quoted, 33^ 378, 

558- 
Lundy's Lane, battle of. 252. 

Macdonough, Commodore, 252. 

Machinery, part}', 464-466. 

Macon Bill No. 2, 241. 

Madison, James, 189; quoted, 183, 
195, 380; in Philadelphia conven- 
tion, 190; writes in the Federalist, 
195; opposes the bank bill, 205; 
writes the Virginia resolutions, 
219; Secretary of State, 224; 
elected President, 240, 246; ad- 
ministration, 240-257; character, 
240; portrait, 240. 

Magellan, Ferdinand, voyage of, 
12, 13. 

Maine, founded, 68; part of Massa- 
chusetts, 72; admitted, 272. 

Maine, the destruction of the, 516. 

Mandeville, Sir John, Voyage and 
Travels of, 3. 

Manifest destiny, 330, 354. 

Manila, 517. 

Manufactures, 541, 554. See also 
Industrial conditions. 

Marbury vs. Madison, 225. 

Marcy, W. L., quoted, 292; Secre- 
tary of War, 326; Secretary of 
State, 353. 

Marietta, Ohio, founded, 212. 

Marquette, loi. 

Marshall, John, commissioner, 216; 
chief justice, 226, 227; portrait, 
226. 

Marshall, Thomas, elected Vice- 
President, 549, 550. 

Maryland, early history, 39-44; 
map of grant, 40; charter, 41; 
establishment of free government 
in, 42; Toleration Act, 43; in 
eighteenth century, 91; does not 
join the Confederacy, 387. 

Mason, George, 192, 269. 

Mason, John, 68; grant to, 68. 

Mason, John Y., 354. 

Mason and Dixon's line, 40. 

Massachusetts, settlement, 56; 
character of settlers, 56; the land 
grant, 57; map of, 58; intolerance, 
63-65; representative government 



in, 61; towns, 62; in confedera- 
tion, 69; under Andros, 71; given 
new charter, 71; extent of, 72; in 
eighteenth century, 90; charter 
changed, 148; insurrection in, 
184, 189; western claims of, iSf, 
186. 

Massachusetts Bay, Company of, 
57, 58; the charter of, 58; map 
of grant to, 58. See also Massa- 
chusetts. 

Maximilian, Archduke, 442, 443. 

Mayflower compact, the, 52. 

McClellan, 391, 392, 400-403; nom- 
inated for presidency, 424. 

McDowell, General, 390. 

McKinley, William, his tariff meas- 
ure, 500; elected President, 511, 
512; life, 514; portrait, 514; ad- 
ministration, 514-522; message 
on Cuba, 516; re-elected Presi- 
dent, 522; assassination and 
death, 522. 

McLeod, arrest of, 313. 

Meade, General, 409. 

Mercator, map of, 15, 16. 

Merrimac and Monitor, 399, 400. 

Merrimac at Santiago, 518. 

Merritt, General, 517. 

Mexico, conquest of, 15; trouble 
with Texas, 321; our treatment 
of, 323; war with, 332-336; Maxi- 
milian in, 443. 

Michigan, in hands of British, 247; 
admitted, 305. 

Milan decree, 239. 

Military situation in Civil War, 388, 
389, 391, 394; in 1862, 396, 398, 
404; in 1863, 408; in 1864, 415, 
416, 419. 

Mining, 475; coal, 486. 

Minimum wage agitation, 545. 

Minnesota, growth of, 480. 

Missionary Ridge, battle of, 411. 

Mississippi, admitted, 267; joins 
Confederacy, 382, 387; new con- 
stitution of, 460. 

Missouri, admitted, 267; does not 
join Confederacy, 387. 

Missouri compromise, 272, 273; 
repealed, 355, 356; declared un- 
constitutional, 366. 

Mobile, capture of, 418. 



INDEX 



XXXIX 



Molasses Act of 1733, 137. 

Monitor, 399, 400. 

Monmouth, battle of, 169. 

Monroe doctrine, the, 274, 442, 509, 
528. 

Monroe, James, minister to France, 
216; envoy to France, 231; treaty 
with England, 239; Secretary of 
State, 241; elected President, 257; 
administration, 257-278; portrait, 
257; message of 1823, 274. 

Montana, 481. 

Montcalm, Marquis de, 108, 109. 

Montgomery, Richard, 158. 

Montreal, taken by the English, no; 
taken in Revolution, 158. 

Moore's Creek, battle of, 158. 

Mormons, the. Sec Utah. 

Morris, Gouverneur, in Philadelphia 
convention, 190; quoted, 200. 

Morris, Robert, services of, 165; 
Superintendentof Finance, quoted, 
182. 

Morris, Thomas, 322. 

Morse, Samuel F. B., 294. 

Morton, Levi P., elected Vice- 
President, 497. 

Motley, J. L., 558. 

Murfreesboro, battle of, 399. 

Napoleon, 236, 399; issues decrees, 
239; withdraws them, 242; con- 
fiscates vessels, 241; helps bring 
on war, 241, 242. 

Nashville, battle of, 422. 

National Bank. Sec Bank. 

Naturalization Act, 218. 

Naval battles in War of 181 2, 24S, 
249, 251, 252, 253. 

Navigation laws, the, 137. 

Nebraska, admitted to the Union, 
440; growth of, 479, 480. 

Nevada, 475. 

New Amsterdam, 74. 

New England, map of, by john 
Smith, 49; confederation, 69, 70; 
map of, 69; early history, 48-72; 
character of settlers, 56; at end of 
seventeenth century, 72; condi- 
tions of life in 1760, 11S-124; 
towns, 119, 120; industries, 120; 
religion, 121; education, 122; 
classes of society in, 123, 124; 



political conditions in 1760, 127, 
ic8. 

New France, founded, loi; early 
history, loo-iii; condition, 107; 
fall of, no. 

New Hampshire, founded, 68; made 
a royal province, 70. See also 
New England. 

New Haven, founded, 66; in con- 
federation, 69; annexed to Con- 
necticut, 70. 

New Jersey, early history, 78-80; 
founded, 78; the "Concessions", 
78; divided, 78; map of, 79; re- 
united, 79; character, 80; educa- 
tion in, 125. 

New Mexico, 334, 344; becomes a 
territory, 347. 

New Netherland, 74. See also 
■ New York. 

New Orleans, founded, loi; battle 
of, 253; capture of, 400. 

New Sweden, 75. 

New York, early history, 73-77; the 
patroons, 74; taken by the Eng- 
lish, 76; government, 77, 129; 
character, 77; in eighteenth cen- 
tury, 90; conditions in 1760, 124- 
126; classes of society in, 125, 126; 
education in, 125; local govern- 
ment, 129. 

New York City, picture of, 124; 
map of, 162; British attack, 163; 
City Hall, 201. 

Niagara, 104, 106, 109. 

Nicholson letter, 339. 

Nicollet, Jean, 100. 

Nominating convention, the first, 
279. Sec also Elections. 

Non-intercourse, 240, 242. 

North Carolina, joins Confederacy, 
387; readmitted, 441. See also 
Carolinas. 

North Dakota, growth of, 480; ad- 
mitted, 481. 

Northeastern boundary dispute, 313. 

Northern Pacific Railroad, 480. 

Northwest territory, map of, 185. 

Northwestern boundary dispute, 
449. 

Nullification, 300; in South Caro- 
lina, 301. See also Virginia and 
Kentucky resolutions. 



xl 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



Oglethorpe, James, founds Georgia, 

94- 

Ohio, settled, 212; admitted, 234. 

Old age pensions, 544. 

"Old Dominion", 36. 

Olney, Richard, 509. 

Orange, Fort, 74. 

Orders in Council, 238, 246. 

Ordinance of 1784, 187; of 17S7, 187. 

Oregon, 326-328; map of, 327; be- 
comes a territory, 342; in election 
of 1876, 456; growth of, 476. 

Oriskany, battle of, 166. 

Ostend manifesto, 354-355. 

Otis, James, speech on the writs of 
assistance, 138. 

Palmer, John M., 512. 

Palo Alto, battle of, 333. 

Panama, recognition of, 525. 

Panama Canal, 523-526. 

Pan-American Congress, 498. 

Panic of 1819,259; of 183 7, 307, 308; of 
1857, 370; of 1873, 454; of 1893,505. 

Parker, Alton B., 531. 

Parkman, Francis, 558. 

Parties, the beginnings, 206-208. 

Party, the old Republican, 206, 218; 
the FederaHst, 207, 218, 220, 221; 
young Republicans, 243; reor- 
ganization, 276-289; the Na- 
tional Republican, 281, 282; 
Democratic, 281, 282, 309; the 
Democratic divided, 376; the 
Whig, 303, 309, 310, 340, 341, 
353; the Liberty, 315; the Free- 
soil, 341; the Republican, 358, 
359, 368; American or Know- 
Nothing, 359; Constitutional 
Union, 377; attitude toward slav- 
ery, 340, 341, 368, 376, 377; Re- 
publicans and reconstruction, 435- 
438, 441; differences in Repub- 
lican, 450, 464-468, 547, 548; the 
Liberal Republican, 450; the Pro- 
hibition, 455; the Greenback, 455; 
the People's, 472; Mugwumps, 
472; the Popuhst, 504; the Pro- 
gressive, 547, 548; the Sociahst, 

^ 549, 55°- . 

Party machinery, 464-466. 
Patroons, 74. 
Pemberton, General, 409. 



Pendleton Act, 470. 

Pendleton, George H., 424. 

Peninsula campaign, 400; map of, 
401.' 

Penn, William, purchases West Jer- 
sey, 78; purchases East Jersey, 79; 
early hfe, 82, 83; portrait, 82; 
acquires Pennsylvania, 82; found- 
er of colony, 83; purposes, 83; 
obtains Delaware, 84; relations 
with Indians, 86. 

Pennsylvania, early history, 82-86; 
founded, 83; frame of govern- 
ment, 83, 84; a proprietary colony, 
8s; democracy in, 86, 126; edu- 
cation, 125; local government, 129. 

Pennsylvania, University of, 125. 

Pequot War, 67. 

Perry, Commodore, 249. 

Personal liberty laws, 367. 

Peru, conquest of, 15. 

Petersburg, 416. 

Philadelphia, founded, 84; in 1760, 
125; the British enter, 167; evac- 
uated, 169. 

Philadelphia convention. See Con- 
vention, Federal. 

Philippine Islands, battle in, 517; 
under control of the United States, 
519-521; government in, 530. 

Pickett, General, 409. 

Pierce, Franklin, elected President, 
352; administration, 353-364. 

Pike, Zebulon M., explorations of, 
.332. 

Pike's Peak, discovery of gold near, 

475- 

Pilgrims. See Plymouth. 

Pinckney, Charles C, candidate for 
Vice-President, 215, 229; minis- 
ter to France, 216; treaty with 
England, 239. 

Pineda, 13. 

Pitt, WiUiam, loS, 109, 152; quoted, 

135' 143- 
Pittsburg Landing. See Shiloh. 
Pizarros, 15. 
Plantation system in Virginia, 32, 

36, 44, 115-117. 
Piatt, Thomas C, 469. 
Plymouth Colony, 48-55; motives 

for founding, 50-52; map of New 

England by John Smith, 49; 



INDEX 



xli 



settlement, 52; the Mayflower 
compact, 52; first page of Brad- 
ford manuscript, 53; in confede- 
ration, 69; added to Massachu- 

^ setts, 71, 72. 

Plymouth Company, 25-27, 48. 

Poe, Edgar Allan, 293. 

Polk, James K., elected President, 
322, 323; character, 325; adminis- 
tration, 326-342; plans, 326; de- 
clares war on Mexico, 332; terri- 
torial expansion under. 337, 338. 

Polo, Marco, 3. 

Ponce de Leon, 13. 

Pony express, 477. 

Poor Richard's Almanac, facsimile 
of page of, 122. 

Pope, General, 398, 402, 403. 

Popular sovereignty, 339, 3S5-358» 
360-362. 

Population in the colonies, 114, 115, 
118, 124; in the United States, 
195, 247, 296, 350, 372, 536, 537, 
552. 553; density of, 195, 296, 
446, 537; center of, 553. 

Porto Rico, occupation of, 518; an- 
nexed, 519; government in, 521. 

Portuguese, explorations of, 5. 

Postal savings banks, 535. 

Prescott, General, 156. 

Prescott, W. H., 294, 558. 

Presidential succession, 494. 

Princeton, battle of, 164. 

Princeton college, 125. 

Printing press of Franklin's time, 1 19. 

Progressive party. See Party. 

Providence, founded, 64. See also 
Rhode Island. 

Prussia, 106. 

Ptolemy map, 4. 

Public lands, speculation in, 305, 
306. 

Pugh, Senator, quoted, 377. 

Puritans, the, 56. 

Quakers, persecuted in Massachu- 
setts, 65; in West Jersey, 78, 79; 
origin of sect, 80, 81; their be- 
liefs, 81, 82. 

Quebec, founded, 98; falls, 109; at- 
tacked by Americans, 158. 

Quebec Act, 149. 

Queen Anne's War, 104. 



Queenstown, battle of, 248. 
Quincy, Josiah, 147; quoted, 257. 

Railroads, 283-285, 306, 370, 371, 
454; Western, 477-480; rates, 
486, 487; discrimination, 488; In- 
terstate commerce acts, 489, 495, 
534; growth of, and its effects, 536, 
538. 

Railways, city, 546. 

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 23. 

Randolph, Edmund, 200, 202. 

Randolph, John, quoted, 245, 260, 
281, 288. 

Recall, 547. 

Reciprocity, 500, 534. 

Reclamation Act, 540. 

Reconstruction, legal difficulties, 
435; Johnson's plans, 436; con- 
gressional method, 437, 440, 441; 
condition of South during, 442, 
447, 448, 451; a continuing prob- 
lem, 445, 450, 451; elections dur- 
ing, 457, 458; troops withdrawn, 
460. 

Redemptioner, 114. 

Reed, Major, discovers cause of 
spread of yellow fever, 522. 

Reed, T. B., speaker, 501. 

Referendum, 547. 

Religious intolerance. See Intol- 
erance. 

Religious liberty in Maryland, 39- 
43; in Pennsylvania, 86. 

Renaissance, the, i. 

Representation, in England and in 
America, 133-135; basis of, in 
Constitution, 190, 191. 

Republican party. See Party. 

Resaca de la Palma, battle of, 333. 

Resumption of specie payments, 
454, 462. 

Revolution, the, 154-178; causes of, 
133-153; attitude toward, in Eng- 
land and America, 151, 152; jus- 
tice of, 152, 153; beginning of, 154; 
significance of, 162; results of, 
175, 178. 

Rhode Island, founded, 65, 66; map 
of, 66; charter, 70; not in Federal 
convention, 1S9. 

Riders, 463. 

River Raisin, battle at the, 249. 



xlii 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 



Ro£ids, lack of, in 1816, 260; state 
appropriation for, 262. 

Roosevelt, Theodore, elected Vice- 
President, 522; succeeds to presi- 
dency, 523; portrait, 523; life of, 
523; administration of, 523-531; 
as an author, 523, 524; re-election, 
531; war against grafters, 532; 
and conservation, 539; and rec- 
lamation, 540; coal strike, 543; 
nominated for President, 549. 

Root, Elihu, 528. 

Rosecrans, General, 399, 408, 410. 

St. Augustine, settlement at, 15. 

St. John, John P., 472. 

St. Leger, Colonel Barry, 165, 
166. 

St. Lusson, 101. 

Salary grab, 453, 454. 

Salem, 57. 

Samoan Islands, 499. 

Sampson, Admiral, 518. 

Sandys, Sir Edwin, 32. 

San Francisco, 475. 

San Jacinto, battle of, 321. 

San Juan Hill, battle of, 518. 

Santa Fe trail, 476. 

Santiago, blockade of, 518. 

Saratoga, surrender of Burgojoie at, 
166. 

Savannah taken by the British, 172. 

Saybrook, founded, 66. 

Schools. See Education. 

Scott, Winfield, in War of 181 2, 250, 
252; in Me.xican War, 335; nom- 
inated for President, 352; in Civil 
War, 392. 

Scrooby congregation, 51. 

Seal fisheries, 499, 507. 

Secession, 299, 378, 382. 

Sedition law, 218, 219. 

Separatists, the, 50, 51. 

Seven days' battles, 402. 

Seven years' war, 106. 

Seward, William H., portrait, 346; 
speech in 1850, 346, 347; quoted, 
348, 358' 395' 406, 419; men- 
tioned, 353; Secretary of State, 
386; assaulted, 433; demands 
withdrawal of Maximilian, 442. 

Seymour, Horatio, nominated for 
presidency, 443. 



Shafter, General, 518. 

Shay's rebellion, 184. 

Sheridan, General, 416-418. 

Sherman Act, 501, 505. 

Sherman Anti-trust Act, 489, 532. 

Sherman, General, 411, 414, 415, 
420, 427, 428; quoted, 415, 421; 
march to the sea, 421, 422; por- 
trait, 421. 

Sherman, James S., 548. 

Sherman, John, 466. 

Sherman, Roger, 190. 

Shiloh, battle of, 398, 399. 

Ship of fifteenth century, 5. 

Shipping, 120, 351. 

Shoshone dam, 540. 

Silver. See Currency. 

Slavery, beginning of, 32; in the 
Carolinas, 47; in Southern colo- 
nies, 114, 115; prohibited in 
Northwest, 187, 188; discussion in 
Federal convention, 192, 269; and 
the West, 269-273; extension, 
269, 270-272, 317, 320, 338, 339, 
342-344, 355, 370; early attitude 
of the North to, 270; growth of, in 
the South, 271; the cotton gin, 
270; the Missouri compromise, 
272, 273, 355, 356; opposed by 
abolitionists, 313, 317; and the 
Te^as question, 315-331; the Wil- 
mot proviso, 335, 336; popular 
sovereignty, 339; Calhoun's prop- 
osition, 340-346; in 1850, 344- 
34S; and Kansas-Nebraska Act, 
355-358; in Kansas, 361, 362, 368, 
369; Dred Scott case, 366; under- 
ground railroad, 367; personal 
liberty laws, 367; effects, 361, 
372-375; John Brown's raid, 373; 
cause of the civil war, 383, 384; 
abolishment of, 405; emancipa- 
tion, 405-408; thirteenth amend- 
ment, 426; cause of Southern de- 
feat, 430. 

Slave trade, 270. 

Smith, Captain John, 28; portrait of, 
29; explores New England, 48; 
map, 49. 

Soule, Pierre, 354. 

South .American states and the Holy 
-Alliance, 273. 

Southampton, Earl of, 32, ^^. 



INDEX 



xliii 



South Carolina, slavery in, 114; 
nullification in, 301; secedes, 378; 
joins Confederacy, 382, 387; re- 
admitted, 441; condition during 
reconstruction, 447; election of 
1876 in, 456. See also Carolinas. 

South Dakota, growth of, 480; ad- 
mitted, 4S1. 

Southern colonies, condition of, 
114-118. 

Southern Pacific Railroad, 480. 

Spain, explorations of, 13; domin- 
ion, 15; claims in eighteenth cen- 
tury, 87, 94; difficulties with, 183, 
189; treaty with, in 1819, 268; 
misrule in Cuba, 515; war with, 

517-519- 
Spanish colonization, character of, 

15- 519- 
Speaker, Clay the first great, 244; 

power of the, 501, 502. 
Specie circular, 305. 
Spoils system, the, 292, 466, 470. 
Spottsylvania, battle of, 415, 416. 
"Stalwarts", the, 468. 
Stamp Act, the, 139-143; the Stamp 

Act Congress, 141; repealed, 143. 
Stanton, E. M., Secretary of War, 

395; removed, 441. 
Stanwix, Fort, 165, 166. 
Stark, John, 166. 
State sovereignty, 287, 299. 
Steamboat, Fulton's, 234; influ- 
ence, 234, 235. 
Stec! business, 541, 542. 
Stephens, Alexander, Confederate 

Vice-President, 382. 
Stephenson, George, 283, 284. 
Steuben, Baron, 168. 
Stevens, Thaddeus, 440. 
Stevenson, Adlai E., nominated for 

vice-presidency, 522. 
Stony Point captured, 170. 
Stor}', Joseph, 227. 
Stowe, Mrs., writes Uncle Tom's 

Cabin, 352. 
Strikes, 489-491, 543. 
Stuyvesant, Peter, house of, in New 

Amsterdam, 76. 
Sugar Act, 139. 
Sullivan, General John, 171. 
Sumner, Charles, 353; assault upon, 

362; portrait, 363; opinions, 435. 



Sumter, Fort, 381, 386, 387. 
Superintendent of Finance, 182. 
Surplus revenue, distribution of, 
305; reduction of, 471, 496, 497. 
Swedes, the, settle in America, 75. 

Taft, William H., elected President, 
531; administration of, 531-535; 
portrait of, 531; renominated for 
presidency, 548. 

Talleyrand, Prince, 216, 217, 231. 

Taney, Roger B., 304. 

Tariff, the first, 199; of 1816, 260; of 
1824, 287; of 1828, 287; of 1832, 
301; of 1833, 301; of 1842, 312; 
under Polk, 326; of 1861, 412; 
of 1890, 500; of 1895, 507; of 
1897. 514; of 1909, 533; a party 
question, 467, 468, 471, 472, 496, 
503, 504, 550; opposition of the 
South, 287, 298, 301; tariff board, 

533- 

Taylor, Zachary, 326; in Mexican 
War, 332-334; nominated for 
President, 341; administration, 
342-348; character, 342; portrait, 
342; death, 348. 

Tea Party, 148. 

Tea tax, 146, 148. 

Tecumseh, 243, 247, 250. 

Telegraph, invention, 294; first mes- 
sage, 294; the Atlantic cable, 443. 

Tennessee, settled, 183; admitted, 
213; joins Confederacy, 387. 

Tennessee, the, 418. 

Tenure of Office Act, 440. 

Texas, 104, 321, 322; annexed, 321- 
326; map, 324; bounds, 325, 328, 
330, 337; admitted, 342; joins 
Confederacy, 382, 387. 

Thames, battle of, 250. 

Thomas, George H., 400, 410, 411, 
421, 422. 

Thompson, Jacob, 380. 

Thurman, Allen G., 497. 

Ticonderoga, taken by English, 109; 
taken by Americans, 155; taken 
by Burgoyne, 165. 

Tilden, S. J., nominated for presi- 
dency, 455- 

Tippecanoe, battle of, 243. 

Tobacco, cultivation of, 31, 36, 37. 

Toleration Act, 43. 



xliv 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN Nx\TION 



Towns in New England, 62, 119, 
120, 127. 

Townshend Acts, the, 143; modifi- 
cation of, 146. 

Trade. See Commerce. 

Trails to the West, 476-478. 

Treaty, of 1763, no; of 1783, 176, 
177; not fulfilled, 183, 209; of 
Greenville, 212; of 1794, 213; 
for purchase of Louisiana, 231; of 
1806, by Monroe, 239; of 1814, 
253; with Spain, 268, 519; of 
1842, 313; the Oregon, 328; the 
Mexican, 336; of Washington, 
449; with England, 1901, 524. 

Trent affair, the, 395, 396. 

Trenton, battle of, 164. 

Tripoli, 189. 

Trusts. See Corporations. 

Tweed ring, 485. 

Tyler, John, character, 310; nomi- 
nated for Vice-President, 310; 
President, 312-323; and Texas, 
321-325. 

Uncle Tom's Cabin, 352. 

Underground railroad, 367. 

Union, plans of, 104; the New Eng- 
land Confederation, 69, 70. 

United States, relief map of, 18; 
original boundaries of, 177, 178; 
development of, 552-562. See 
also Annexation. 

United States bank. See Bank. 

Utah, 347, 474, 475, 481. 

Valley Forge, 168. 

Van Buren, Martin, elected Presi- 
dent, 307; character and life, 307; 
administration, 307-311; in 1844, 
322; nominated for President, 309, 

341- 
Vasco de Gama, 6. 
Venezuelan dispute, 509, 510. 
Vera Cruz, taken by Scott, 335. 
Vermont admitted, 213. 
Verrazano, 19. 
Vespucius, Americus, voyages of, 

10; America named from, 12. 
Vicksburg, capture of, 409, 410. 
Vincennes, capture of, 172. 
Virginia, early history of, 20-39; 

first charter of, 1606, 27; map of 



grant, 26; second charter of, 1609, 
28; map of grant, 30; House of 
Burgesses, establishment of, ^y, 
becomes a royal colony, 35; char- 
acter, 39; in eighteenth century, 
91, 92, 93; slavery in, 114; life in, 
in 1760, 115-118; education, 117; 
local government, 128, 129; Bill of 
Rights, 162; \7estern claims of, 
186; joins Confederacy, 387. 

Virginia resolves, 146. 

Virginia and Kentucky resolutions, 
219. 



Walker, Robert J., 326. 

Walpole, Horace, quoted, 109, 175. 

War, intercolonial, 88, 97—110; 
Revolutionary, 154-178; with 
France, 217; Barbary, 224; of 
1812, 245-255; effect of, 255; with 
Mexico, 332-336; the civil, 387- 
432; with Spain, 517-519. 

Washington, state of, 48 1. 

Washington city, the capital, 205, 
220; taken by British, 252. 

Washington, George, portrait, 
frontispiece; meets the French, 
105; at Braddock's Field, 105; 
macle commander, 155; character, 
155, 214; defends New York, 163; 
retreats across New Jersey, 164; at 
Trenton and Princeton, 164; his 
skill, 164; given authorit}^ 165; at 
Brandy wine, 167; at German- 
town, 167; at Valley Forge, 168; 
at Monmouth, 169; captures 
Stony Point, 170; at Yorktown, 
175; his accounts, 179; quoted, 
183; in Philadelphia convention, 
190; President, 198-215; farewell 
address, 214, 215; Trenton recep- 
tion, 222. 

Watertown remonstrance, 61. 

Watson, Thomas E., 512. 

Wayne, General Anthony, defeats 
Indians, 212. 

Weaver, James B., 504. 

Webster, Daniel, 294; quoted, 188, 
310, 566; enters Congress, 244; 
opposed to tariff, 260; reply to 
Hayne, 300; portrait, 300; in 
Tyler's cabinet, 312; makes 



INDEX 



xlv 



treaty, 313; 7 th of March speech, 
345; death, 353. 

Welfare laws, 543. 

West, the, migration to, 263, 264 
progress of, 212, 305, 306, 554 
556; rapid growth of, 264, 265 
population of, in 1800 and 1820 
267; slavery question in, 269-2 7g 
democracy and, 276; development 
of, 475-482. 

Western land claims, 185, 186; given 
up, 186. 

Western reserve, 186. 

West India Company, 73. 

West Virginia admitted, 390. 

Wheeler, W. A., elected Vice-Presi- 
dent, 454, 457. 

Whig party, named, 303; in 1840, 
309, 310; divided on slavery 
question, 340, 341. See also Party. 

whiskey rebellion, 208, 209. 

Whiskey ring, the, 453. 

White, John, 57. 

Whitney, Asa, 477. 

Whittier, J. G., 558. 

Wilderness, battle of, 415, 416. 

Wilkinson, General J., 229, 251. 

William and Mary College, 117; 
view of, 118. 



William III, 71. ■ 

Williams, Roger, 64. 

Wilmington, 75. 

Wilmot proviso, the, 335, 336. 

Wilson, Henry, elected Vice-Presi- 
dent, 451. 

Wilson, James, in Philadelphia con- 
vention, 190. 

Wilson, Woodrow, elected President, 
549. 550; inauguration of, 550. 

Winthrop, John, 59; portrait of, 60: 
quoted, 61, 62. 

Wisconsin admitted, 342. 

Wolfe, General James, 109. 

World's Fair, the, 506, 559. 

Writs of assistance, 138. 

Wyoming admitted, 481. 

Wyoming massacre, 171. 



X Y Z affair, 217, 



Yancey, quoted, 377. 
Yeardley, George, t,t,. 
Yorktown, surrender at, 175. 



Zenger, John, tried for libel, 90. 



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